


How many skeletons does it take to screw in a light bulb?

by Spingtail



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Swapfell, Alternate Universe - Underfell, Alternate Universe - Underswap, Ambassador Frisk, Drug Use, Drugs, F/F, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, M/M, Mascot Papyrus, Past Child Abuse, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, References to Drugs, demon cat - Freeform, more to be added later - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-22
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2018-12-05 14:09:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 51,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11579649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spingtail/pseuds/Spingtail
Summary: I couldn't think of a title ok don't judge meANYWAy this is going to be a thing for all my random ideas involving the different AUs. There is Undertale, Underfell, Underswap, and Swapfell. I know there can be some confusion on the swapfell/fellswap thing, so I'll say that Sans's eyelights are not the Triforce. He will have purpley themes, but not THAT purple, I guess. Yeah.I'm also gonna use it as a thing for my ships to happen because all the fics for them on here are mostly sin and I just want fluffy shit okThere will likely be Edgepuff and Rottenberry, as well as Kustard. There'll probably be more as it goes on, too. Yes I know I'm absolute garbage shshshhhUpdates mostly every Sunday!





	1. Japed

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote most of this at 3 in the morning so I'm sorry if it doesn't make a lot of sense
> 
> Also i lose motivation on a lot of projects all the time and I'm sorry if it happens to this but l et's see how long it takes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The passionate papyruses have a war against some berries.

**1:04 AM**

 

The neighborhood, filled with resting skeletons after a long day, was almost completely silent apart from the bugs and frogs filling the air with their noise. The small street consisted of four houses, each painted for the brothers that lived inside.

The house that still had snow on it was the Undertale brothers. Being the original, it looked the most ordinary and familiar than all the other homes. The monsters who lived inside had been nicknamed Comic and Rus, truly the most creative of names, to tell each other apart from their similar counterparts. Although everyone had their own respective nicknames, they would still call their own brother by name. 

The next, Underswap. It was a nice home painted a light blue and had a simple white fence around it, the gate at the front securely locked. There was a cat resting by the front door.

The brothers who lived there were named, as you may have already guessed, Stretch and Blue. Technically, the shorter one was named Blue _berry_ , but I refuse to type that out in this writing style. They were opposites of the previous pair, with the shorter one being much more energetic and bubbly than his taller, lazier brother. Stretch got his nickname from being the tallest, which he constantly held over everyone’s heads smugly.

And then, there was Underfell right across the road from Undertale. It was a red and black version of the Undertale household, without the snow on the roof. The two living inside were named Red and Fell, another pair of rather creative names. While everyone had agreed on Fell, because “ALL THE OTHER OPTIONS ARE FUCKING STUPID,” Rus would very often refer to the shortest Papyrus as “Cinnamon”, which the former reticently allowed, despite his brother’s constant teasing whenever it was used. 

Unfortunately for Red, he was the reasoning behind Blue’s.. Full nickname. Upon the first few weeks trapped in Undertale, Red hadn’t gotten along with any of the skeletons. After a long while of being irritable and rude, Blue decided to try and “help” him by tackling him from behind in what he claimed to be a “surprise friendship hug.” As a result, Red called him an “overgrown blueberry,” as well as some other more rude names. This resulted in Blue being flattered, and Red wanting to die. 

And _finally_ , the last house. The house next to Underfell. The house across the road from Underswap. The house that currently only held one resident. The house that this story is actually going to kinda _circulate around so just get to the point already._  

 

The Swapfell house.

 

Swapfell? Fellswap? Eh, who cares.

 

The house was painted more of a burgundy color, with a large and _very_ protective black fence around it. The gate was obnoxiously, but securely, locked. A cat with bunched up, scrappy fur lay outside the door in a much less relaxed state than the one at Underswap’s. The short skeleton, both height and temper wise, that lay sleeping inside was dubbed Raspberry, or Razz for short. He did not like the name one bit, mainly because Stretch had teased that he was “like an evil, more satanic version of my bro.” Something told Razz that the former wasn’t a very big fan of the particular berry. 

For a reason no one could find themselves able to explain, the skeletons had started popping up out of nowhere. The Fell brothers were the first, starting with Red, and then Fell two months later. That eventful course of events had happened four years ago, and yet they still had no known way of returning to their own world. Then again, it didn’t seem like they even _wanted_ to.

Next, there was Underswap. It began with Stretch, and Blue coming not even a week afterward, which was three years ago, now.

Everyone began assuming that there was some kind of pattern, with the lazies appearing first and the passionates coming afterward, two groups they had all decided to use to refer to each other as a group aside from “the paps” and “the sanses.”

The theory was, of course, debunked when Razz appeared first and, after two long years, no sign of his own brother coming up anywhere. This led to the lazies coming to the conclusion that it was simply random, while the passionates continued to try to find some kind of pattern in all of it. 

Of course, there were other people on the street too, but they aren’t relevant to the story. I can’t do _all_ the imagination, people.

 

Finally, time for the story to begin.  


* * *

  

**_Beep!! Beep!! Beep!!_ **

 

An arrogant beeping ran through the air as an alarm clock activated next to the head of a black spaceship-shaped bed with star-printed blankets. The grumpy skeleton lying in it simply rolled over, trying to tune out the blaring noise.

“Five more minutes..” He grumbled, wrapping himself tighter with his blanket. He put the pillow over his head, to see if it would muffle the sound.

 

**_Beep!! Beep!! Be-_ **

 

Suddenly, a fist came crashing down over the defenseless clock, and shattered it into pieces. A very tired looking Razz glared at it, looking slightly satisfied with himself. He’d have to buy another one soon, but for now, justice had been served. The evil was defeated.

Despite his own wishes, he rolled himself out of the bed. Why, oh why did he insist on making himself wake up two hours before the sun? Sure, he loved to see it rise, and it was still breathtakingly beautiful, even after two years, but was it really worth going through four clocks in only a week? He looked through his closet and picked out a relatively cute-but-badass outfit, consisting of black short-shorts and a slightly lighter shade of black crop-top. To top it off, he wore an oversized red flannel above it that hung down to his mid-thighs, rolled up the sleeves, and made the coolest face possible in his mirror.  Perfect. 

He got dressed, walked downstairs, and began making himself some breakfast. And by that, of course, he meant taking a breakfast burrito out of the freezer and heating it up in the microwave. He realized far too late that he had been hanging around Stretch, Comic and Red far too much. And then he realized he only ever actually hung out with them when one of the other passionates, most likely Blue, dragged him into it because they didn’t want to suffer alone. Of course, there was that one time when he tripped on some unseen object while standing on the counter (for reasons he didn’t even remember) and Red caught him bridal-style with that shit-eating grin of his. Ugh. Gross. Because of that, he had refused to go drinking with any of them again unless another passionate was present. 

He couldn’t help but wonder why, unlike all the others’, his brother hadn’t shown up yet. Despite how much he hated and actively avoided talking and/or thinking about it, his mind always came to that. It had been two _years_ now, and not even a sign of his brother had been seen. It almost made him jealous, actually, to see all the brothers just interacting, and even more to see them _get along._ Of course, the Fell brothers rarely did tolerate each other, but when they did it was like he was hit with a truckload of envy. Despite how often he and his brother fought back home, Razz couldn’t help but miss him. They pretty much grew up together, after all. Even if there was an obvious preference to a certain spoiled, bratty younger brother who bore a striking resemblance to- 

The microwave’s beeping, thankfully, interrupted his thoughts. It was far too early to think about... Whatever it was he was thinking about. What was it again? He found that he had completely lost his train of thought. Huh, that hardly happened to him most of the time. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it, and took his burrito out of the microwave. Without thinking, he bit into it, and instantly burned his entire mouth. Cursing himself, he hastily swallowed, burning his throat aswell, and set the burrito on a paper towel. 

He had only had enough time to fix himself a cup of water before the doorbell rang, and began wondering who would be at the door. Looking at the clock, he knew it had to be one of the passionates, considering it was now 5:32 AM. Not to mention, the lazies always knocked instead of using the bell. Because he remembered the different ringing patterns, he could tell who was at the door just by not answering right away. If it was Fell, there would be only one ring, whereas if it was Rus it would be one every minute. Every thirty seconds would be Blue, and a spastic, continuous ringing that was certainly the most _annoying_ would indicate all three. Razz began counting the seconds and, assuming that it had been 10 seconds since the first ring, began at 10. 

Once he got to 30, it rang again. Must be Blue, then. 

He opened the door, satisfied with himself that he had made the correct guess. 

“Why don’t you ever open it at the first ring?” Blue complained, crossing his arms. “It’s very rude!!!” 

“Because I have to make sure you aren’t Fell attempting to get me back for saying Italian food is gross,” he replied, smirking. He stepped aside. “Get in here, you overgrown Blueberry.” 

Chuckling, the other walked inside, taking off his shoes after entering. While no one else had this rule, Razz instated it after he got sick of having to clean his carpet every time someone left. Of course, he didn’t _have_ to do that, but it would still bother him if he didn’t. He began walking back to the kitchen, about to ask if his nicer counterpart would like something to eat, when the latter spoke first.

“I like your outfit!” He said, making the other jump. Although Blue complimented everyone, it still managed to surprise him. Every. Single. Time. 

“Uh-thanks,” he responded, mentally slapping himself. He took a moment to examine the other monster’s outfit. Blue was wearing a loose-fitting NTT shirt with his blue scarf draped over it, paired with ripped jeans. He pulled it off pretty well, actually. “I like yours, too.” 

Overwhelmed with having actually given a _genuine compliment_ , Razz went and got his burrito in more of a hurry, forgetting that he meant to ask Blue if he wanted anything until already holding the trashy meal. He poked his head out of the kitchen, and for a second, thought he saw the other looking smug. He figured it was just his imagination, though. 

“Hey, I forgot to ask,” he began, “do you want anything to eat? I wasn’t really planning on cooking anything, but I mean if you wanted-” 

“No, I’m fine, thanks! I heated up some leftovers before leaving the house,” Blue replied, seemingly disappointed at his own laziness. Razz was happy that he wasn’t the _only_ one the lazies rubbed off on, at least. 

The monsters sat on the couch together, as they so often did before sunrise. 

“So, what brings you over?” Razz asked, as if he wasn’t expecting Blue to be at the door, despite needing to count the seconds.

“Oh, yeah! Apparently Happst- I mean _Mettaton_ is doing some kind of show in a timezone that’s twelve hours apart from ours!” Blue explained. “I would’ve watched it at home, but Papyrus was sleeping on the couch and wouldn’t let me move him, despite my best efforts. I had _no_ choice but to come here! Definitely _not_ because I want someone to watch it with and you just happen to always be awake at this time!” 

“Oh, of _course_ not!” Razz responded melodramatically, “Why on _Earth_ would I _EVER_ assume something like **THAT** _?_ ”

They laughed amongst themselves, and turned the TV on to watch the show.

 

* * *

 

The two hours seemed to pass quicker than usual, and before they knew it, the two were walking together to the spot the passionates had claimed as their sunrise-watching spot, AKA a treehouse they built together in the first year Razz was in Undertale. Originally, it was going to have four walls, but very soon after the house became the sun-spot, the wall facing the sunrise was very quickly taken down. _Punched_ down is more like it.  Rus and Fell were already there, both sprawled out on the old couch that had been pretty much thrown up into the house itself.  

“SORRY, NOT ENOUGH ROOM FOR MORE PEOPLE,” Rus said. “IF ONLY,” he stretched out a bit more, taking up some more space, “THERE WAS A WAY TO FIX THAT!”

“ALAS,” Fell said, draping a hand over his face and closing his eyes in mock-despair, “THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO SOLUTION TO THIS!”

“ACTUALLY, CINNAMON,” Rus spoke up, making Fell open one of his eyes, “PERHAPS THERE IS.. A SOLUTION..” 

“OH? DO TELL, MY DEAR ‘RUS.”

Razz could practically hear Fell scream internally as he said _that_ line. He looked at Blue, who looked back. Neither of them seemed to have a clue what was going on. 

“THE SOLUTION, MY DEAREST CINNY CINNAMON,” Rus continued, obviously trying not to laugh, “IS THAT _SOME TWO PEOPLE..”_  

Oh no. 

“ **HAVE TO ADMIT THAT ITALIAN FOOD IS BETTER THAN MEXICAN FOOD!!** ” The two said in unison, looking right at the two sanses standing in the small space next to the couch. 

OH _NO._  

“In your _dreams!”_ Razz exclaimed. “I would never stoop to that level for an old _couch!!”_  

“Italian food is and always will be gross!” Blue added on. “You just can't tell because you have poor taste!” 

“I THINK THE TWO OF US KNOW THE _TRUE_ SOLUTION TO THIS FOOD WAR,” Fell began, smirking at Rus. “THOSE TWO ARE JUST TOO _SHORT_ TO SEE IT!” 

Both the sanses gasped in mock-but-kinda-real-offense, putting their hands to their chests. 

“I WILL HAVE YOU _KNOW,”_ Razz said, voice rising slightly in volume, “THAT I AM THE SECOND TALLEST SANS AND I REFUSE TO BE CALLED SHORT!!!” 

“YOU'RE WEARING HEELS,” Fell pointed out, grinning. 

“WELL SO ARE YOU,” Rus said to his friend, nudging him a little with his foot, “SHORTY.” 

“OKAY, **_WOW,”_ ** Fell shouted, while Rus only laughed. “I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD BE BETRAYED LIKE THIS. I'M HEARTBROKEN, RUS, _HEARTBROKEN!!”_  

“How about you betray him back and give us the couch?” Blue suggested. 

“NOT _THAT_ HEARTBROKEN.” 

“Well you'll have to give up sooner or later before the sun comes up!” Razz pointed out. The paps looked at each other for a moment in consideration. Then, Rus took out his phone. 

“YOU CAN DO A PRETTY GOOD RAZZ IMPRESSION, RIGHT CINNAMON?” He asked, scrolling through his contacts. “I CAN DO AN OKAY BLUE VOICE.” 

Fell said yes, and Rus finally found the contact he had been looking for. 

“Okay, what are you doing now?” Razz asked, but he _wasn't worried at all shut up_. 

“WE’RE GONNA CALL STRETCH AND MAKE IT SOUND LIKE YOU TWO ARE FUCKING,” Fell said matter-of-factly. The sanses faces immediately flushed.

“OH MY GOD, _NO,”_ they both yelled, trying to get the phone out of Rus’s hands. He held it out of reach.  

“ADMIT IT!!” Rus said through his laughter, “ITALIAN FOOD IS AMAZING!!!” 

“ _NE-”_  

 _“OKAY OKAY, FINE!!”_ Blue suddenly yelled, interrupting Razz’s refusal. “Just don't call Stretch! I actually have to _live_ with him, and that would _NOT_ end well! Heck, I'd never even hear the end of it!” 

The paps, the _bastards,_ smirked at each other.  

“ONE DOWN, ONE TO GO,” Fell remarked. “RAZZ?” 

Blue had already given in, but Razz still had yet to say anything positive about his least favorite kind of food. He pondered the importance of seeing the sunrise compared to keeping his own dignity. Finally, he sighed a deep, long sigh. 

“Fiiiine,” he said, frowning. 

“YOU BOTH GOTTA SAY IT,” Rus said, recording on his phone now. “SAY ‘ITALIAN FOOD IS AMAZING!’” 

“Italian food is amazing,” they both said, defeated. 

Rus put away his phone, looked at his sharper counterpart, and they both got up. 

“ALRIGHT!” He said. “THE COUCH IS ALL YOURS!”

“I thought we were gonna share it?” Blue said, confused. Razz raised a brow. 

“NNNOPE,” Fell said, making his way toward the ladder. 

“But what about the sunrise?” Razz asked. 

“OH YEAH,” Rus began, “THE SUN ISN'T GOING TO RAISE FOR ANOTHER, LIKE, FOUR HOURS. IT'S THREE IN THE MORNING.” 

The sanses’ eyes widened. 

“But-the clocks-” 

“WE CHANGED ALL OF YOUR CLOCKS,” Fell interrupted Blue, his voice smug. “EXCEPT FOR THE ONES YOU'RE TOO SHORT TO KNOW ARE THERE!” 

And with that, he climbed down the ladder, with Papyrus following afterward, leaving the two skeletons sitting on the couch dumbfounded. 

“Were we just pranked because of _Italian food_?” Razz asked in disbelief. 

“It appears so,” Blue replied, shaking his head. 

Suddenly, they heard a loud growl coming from the bottom of the ladder.

 “IS THAT YOUR DOG, OR MINE?” Rus’s voice asked, sounding slightly scared. 

“DEFINITELY MINE,” Fell’s voice answered. “DON'T MAKE ANY SUDDEN MOVEMENTS, OR THE THING WILL TRY TO BITE YOUR LEG OFF.”

Suddenly, a loud hiss accompanied the growling. 

“DEMON CAT?” Rus asked. 

“DEMON CAT,” Fell answered in dismay.

Not even five seconds later, the sound of barking and hissing erupted through the forest as the paps fled away from their own demise.

 

Razz smirked.

 

He'd have to buy some pet treats later.


	2. 3 AM McDonald's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Razz almost tears down the Tale Bros' house when everyone else leaves for McDonald's at 3 in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Ya'll'd've'f'I'd've," Red pointed out.
> 
> "Shut the fuck up," everyone else yelled without hesitation.

Comic was getting a late midnight snack from the fridge when Rus and Fell burst through the door, hurriedly closing and locking it behind them. Their clothes were torn, and they looked like they had barely escaped a vicious bear attack.

“Fell dog again?” He asked, nonchalantly walking out of the kitchen with a bottle of ketchup in hand. 

“YES,” Rus said, rubbing a scratch on his arm. “ _ AND  _ THE DEMON CAT.”

“Demon cat?”

“OUR OWN FRIENDLY NICKNAME FOR RAZZ’S BLOOD-THIRSTY LITTLE FLUFFBALL OF MURDER,” Fell explained.

“Oh, I get it now,” Comic said. That cat was pretty hostile. “Didja at least get the prank t’work?”

“FOR THE LAST TIME, IT IS CALLED A  _ JAPE,  _ NOT A PRANK! THERE’S A DIFFERENCE!” Rus complained. “AND YES. STRETCH NOW OWES US BOTH $20.”

“I’ll let ‘im know.” Comic began making his way back to his room.

“MAKE SURE TO THROW AWAY THAT BOTTLE! WE DON’T WANT YOUR ROOM BECOMING MORE OF A MESS THAN IT ALREADY IS!” Rus reminded him as he stood outside his door.

“ _ You  _ don’t want my room becoming more of a mess, bro,” he pointed out. “I might like it dirty.” 

“STI-”

He was cut off from a very loud bang, and then rumbling that shook the entire house, then died down after a few seconds. The three skeletons stood there for a moment, not sure what to do.

“WHAT THE FUCK,” Fell exclaimed, “WAS THAT?”

“...EARTHQUAKE?” Rus asked, but he was doubtful. 

“I-uh..” Comic hesitated. “I think that came from the basement.”

A few seconds passed, and there was spastic knocking at the door. Fell, being the closest, opened it up. Standing there and looking thoroughly confused, as well as tired, were Red and Stretch. They were both still in pajamas. Then again, so was Comic, so it must be a lazy thing. Definitely  _ not  _ because it was three in the morning.

“Some weird light thing just came from the basement,” Stretch said, voice monotonous. “I’m pretty sure I smell smoke, actually.”

“Did ya piss off the Berries or somethin’?” Red asked, yawning in between.

“N- YES, ACTUALLY…” Fell answered, pondering if the two were quick enough to set off a bomb in the basement right as he and Rus arrived. Before he had a chance to apply logic to the thought, though, Comic came pushing passed him.

“I swear if they fucked up my machine,” he said, only sounding a tad pissed as he walked passed Stretch and Red, not even finishing his sentence.

Everyone followed close after him as they went to the basement. Red pointed out that this was how a lot of horror movies went down, and everyone promptly told him to shut the fuck up. Comic opened the door, and turned on the light.

 

Well, it definitely wasn’t the Berries.

 

Standing in front of the machine was a tall, slender figure with its back turned to them all. It was wearing a travel backpack with several pockets, as well as what appeared to be a black hoodie with fluff around the pulled-up hood. Its jeans were black and torn with what seemed almost like claw marks, and it was wearing red sneakers with untied laces. It seemed frozen in place, posture stiff, and shaking a little bit.

“Uh.. hiya there,” Comic said. The figure relaxed slightly, as if it recognised his voice.

“Sans?” It finally spoke, and continued on as it turned around. “Jeez, bro, you scared the hell outta m-”

The mysterious skeleton turned around completely and finally got a good look at the five skeletons staring back at him. He resembled a Papyrus, but had a gold tooth and a look of fear that would give Underfell a competition. There was a bandage covering his left eye socket.

“Oh,” he squeaked, looked back at the machine, and began to walk backward slowly. “I-um, I-I’ll just.. Go. Sorry if I, umm, interrupted s-something.”

“No, no, hold on,” Comic said, and the strange skeleton stopped in his tracks. “Ok uh, Fell, go get Razz and Blue from wherever the hell they are. Everyone else go back inside the house, I’ll help this guy out.”

 

* * *

 

While Fell left to get the Berries from the treehouse, Comic led the new Papyrus into the main part of the house, where there wasn’t a potentially-dangerous machine. The Papyrus took a seat on the couch, and didn’t respond to any of the other skeletons’ questions. 

“DO YOU THINK WE’VE GIVEN HIM ANY REASON TO BE AFRAID?” Rus asked Red, as quiet as his particularly loud voice could go. “HE’S BEEN PRETTY FREAKED OUT THIS WHOLE TIME, AND HE WON’T TALK TO ANYONE.”

“Nah, I don’t think we have,” he answered. “Remember when I first showed up? ‘Didn’t adjust until the swap bros popped up, and even then it was hard.”

“OH YEAH, I HAD FORGOTTEN ABOUT THAT,” Rus responded. “I DON’T THINK I EVER ACTUALLY ASKED WHAT IT WAS LIKE, SORRY.”

“S’fine, don’t worry,” Red said. “Basically it was-- weird, I dunno.” He sighed. “Kay so, imagine this. You grow up in an extremely hostile place that, no matter how far you run in whatever direction, you can’t get out of. Eventually, you get used to everyone bein’ an asshole, and when an innocent monster gets murdered for being ‘too weak’, you just look the other way and act like you don’t see it happening instead of helpin’ out. You  _ accept  _ the fact that kindness isn’t a thing that keeps you alive. Sounds like hell, right?”

Rus only nodded.

“And then, out of nowhere, you find yourself in a place that seems the same but..  _ Isn’t _ . Everything looks almost the same, except for small differences. Things like ‘that sink was lower before,’ or even ‘the walls were dirtier before.’ The changes are pretty damn small, but you can’t help but notice ‘em every once in awhile.” He made random gestures with his hands while he spoke, trying to think of the right words. “And  _ then _ , you meet the people you thought you already knew. It starts with meeting yourself. And then your brother. But  _ not. _ They look nearly exactly like you, like your little brother, but it’s the tiny differences again. They act different. They’re  _ nice.  _ And you can’t help but feel like you’re being set up. 

“You still act like an ass, even after you get more used to the differences. Even after your brother  _ joins  _ you, you still act like an ass ‘cause you can’t understand  _ anything  _ about this place. No matter how hard you try, you just don’t get it. And so, you push everyone away. You don’t let yourself get close to anyone for over a year, because you expect to go back to hostility at any moment. Finally, you give up. You let your guard down and open up to people. Slowly, but it happens. You look at the other bros’ relationships together and see the bond, the absolute trust between them and remember what you did to your own brother and-”

His voice broke at the last word, and faded out. Rus put his hand on his shoulder, having already heard  _ that  _ particular story. Red cleared his throat, waving the hand away.

“Anyway, what I’m sayin’ is,” he began, “it’s pretty fuckin’ trippy. And considering that guy appeared to five familiar-but-not-familiar skeletons instead of two like me, he’s probably flipping his shit but not showin’ it.”   


Rus nodded and was about to say something, when the door flew open and made all the monsters in the room jump.

“WE HAVE HEARD NEWS OF A NEW PAPYRUS!!” Blue yelled, obviously excited to meet the newcomer. Fell followed after him, and Razz was last. He seemed anxious about something. Rus immediately knew what when the small skeleton looked at the couch, and froze in his tracks. The Papyrus, having locked eyes with him, tensed up. The room went silent for a few seconds.

“...Sans?” He said, voice quiet. “Is-...Is it actually you?”

“Papyrus,” Razz said in response. They kept staring at each other, unsure of what to do next.

“Uh,” Comic began, “how ‘bout some 3 AM McDonald’s?”

“GREAT IDEA, BROTHER!!” Rus said, already walking toward the door. He stopped Razz from attempting to follow. “NOT TO EXCLUDE, BUT YOU SHOULD PROBABLY STAY HERE. WITH YOUR BROTHER. FOR NO PARTICULAR REASON. BYE!!”

And with that, Comic and Rus shoved all the other skeletons out the door and into the car. They drove away quickly. Razz already felt bad for those poor employees.

“Well, uh..” He said, not at all sure what to do. He sat next to his brother. He felt like he was supposed to hug him, especially after two years of wondering how he was doing, but he didn’t know if he could. They had never had the closest relationship, after all. Luckily, he didn’t have to start the conversation himself.

“Where the fuck have you been?” His brother said, voice bland. “It’s been two years, Sans. I thought you were fucking  _ dead _ .”

“It’s.. hard to explain,” He replied. “Would you believe me if I said that this is a completely different universe?”

“Normally, I would call you crazy,” the Papyrus sighed, “But at this point I think I can believe just about anything.”

Another awkward silence.

“What’s the, uh,” Razz began hesitantly, “What’s the bandage for? It wasn’t there before.”

“I pissed off a gang and they cracked the socket,” he answered, his voice monotonous as ever. He pulled up the bandage just a little bit to show a large crack over his eye socket, forcing his eye shut. “After you disappeared, a bunch of monsters’ve been goin’ after me. Our house got robbed a few times, the windows are all like, permanently broken, and the door’s lock doesn’t work anymore. I’ve been living in the basement for the past few months. Somehow nobody’s found it so far.”

“Jeez, how many people wanna kill you  _ now _ ?”

“Probably 99% of the underground at this point. The only one that hasn’t given me any death threats has been that cat-dog-thing.”

Razz sighed. Back in Swapfell, Papyrus had been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. The family was hardworking and wealthy, therefore, being the youngest, the skeleton hardly ever had to lift a finger to get what he wanted. He was practically the  _ definition  _ of “bratty younger brother”. After their father, whom he barely remembered, passed away, he relied on his older brother’s money and protection from being in the royal guard. He had made many enemies, knowing that they couldn’t touch him for as long as his brother was around. Of  _ course  _ everything would go to hell the very second Razz vanished.

He shook the thought out of his head.

“You seem like you were pretty prepared to come here,” he pointed out, gesturing to the other’s backpack. 

“Not  _ here _ ,” Papyrus corrected, “but I was ready to go  _ somewhere _ . To disappear for a couple years, y’know? Just like you did. That seems to have worked out pretty well, huh?”

“What do you-” he started, but cut himself off. “You think I ended up here  _ myself?” _

“Well, duh,” the other said back, frowning. “Of course you did. We even had that huge fight before you left, that would give you as good a reason as any to just run away.”

“ _ Run away?”  _ Razz repeated, volume rising slightly. “I didn’t run away,  _ I never fucking run away!  _ I didn’t choose to come here, it just happened!”

“And just  _ how  _ do you expect me to believe that?”

“Well did _you_ choose to come here? No! You were probably just _smoking pot_ or something and found yourself in a completely different basement! In fact, that bag’s probably filled with _all kinds_ of drugs, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but that’s not the point!” Now Papyrus’s voice was getting louder, too. “I used the  _ machine  _ to get here, I didn’t just  _ poof into existence!” _

“Papyrus, that machine’s been broken for  _ years _ !”

“Yeah, two years! After  _ you  _ used it to abandon me!”

“I didn’t  _ abandon _ you, I had no choice!”

“Yeah. Fucking.  _ Right.” _

They were both standing now, and began to talk loudly over each other for the next few minutes. Papyrus kept insisting that Razz abandoned him, while Razz insisted he had no choice in the matter. Neither of them heard the car pulling up into the driveway, and the argument escalated to the two summoning attacks. Not to use  _ yet, _ but only to threaten with. If the other skeletons hadn’t opened the door  _ right then _ , McDonald's to-go bags in hand, the attacks would more than likely have become more than threats.

“We got some McDic- oh holy shit what happened,” Red interrupted himself, being the first through the door. 

“WOAH WOAH, OKAY THEN,” Rus said, equally as surprised. He rushed over and put himself between the two. “PLEASE DON’T BREAK MY HOUSE.”

“Hey,” Comic said, putting himself next to his brother, “what’s goin’ on?”

As the group, as well as the disgusting smell of McDonald’s, filled the room, the Swapfell brothers reluctantly put away their attacks. They glared at each other over the shoulders of the Undertale brothers. Papyrus pretended to try to pick something out of his eye, his middle finger facing toward his brother, who fumed even more.

“I told you we shouldn’t’ve left ‘em alone,” Red pointed out to his brother.

“HEY, SANS?” Fell said.

“Yeah?”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP.”

“Fair ‘nough.”

“Really, though,” Stretch said. “What happened? We were only gone for, what, 8 minutes? That definitely breaks the Fell bros’ record for  _ Fastest Started Fight _ .”

“WE’LL PROBABLY WIN IT BACK SOON,” Fell said. “BUT YEAH, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED WHILE WE WERE GONE?”

“That dumbass thinks I came here on purpose,” Razz grumbled, gesturing to his brother. “He keeps saying that I ‘abandoned’ him.”

He expected his brother to say something back, but was met with surprising silence. He looked at him to see him glaring daggers, but also seeming either too suspicious or too intimidated by the other skeletons to actually say anything.

“AH,” Rus said. “I SUPPOSE WE’LL HAVE TO EXPLAIN-”

“But not right now because it’s 3- almost 4 in the morning,” Comic interrupted. “I say whatever we ‘explain’ right now is nicknames because I wanna go the fuck back to sleep.”

“YOU WERE GETTING A SNACK WHEN WE GOT HERE?” Rus responded, his voice having a questioning tone to it. “AND WE JUST GOT MCDONALD’S????”

“There’s a difference between wanting  _ food  _ and wanting  _ bed _ .”

“OK, WHATEVER,” Fell interrupted before the two brothers got into a debate. “NICKNAME TIME. WE SHOULD PROBABLY ALL INTRODUCE OURSELVES, FIRST.”

“GREAT IDEA!!” Rus said, and pulled the other two Papyruses to his side. “I’M RUS, THIS IS CINNAMON-”

“I’M  _ FELL  _ TO YOU, ACTUALLY,” Fell corrected, glaring at Razz’s brother. “IF YOU CALL ME CINNAMON EVEN ONCE, I’LL SNAP YOUR NECK.”

“WELL, SO MUCH FOR GOOD FIRST IMPRESSIONS,” Rus grumbled, shooting Fell and annoyed glance.

“I’m Stretch,” Stretch said. “It’s ‘cause I’m taller than all these shorties.”

“Wait, how do we know that  _ now _ ?” Blue asked. “We don’t know how tall  _ he  _ is.”

“STRETCH! NEW GUY!” Rus said. “GET BACK TO BACK!”

They didn’t even get that far. All they did was stand in front of each other, and the answer was obvious.

Stretch officially lost his crown for tallest skeleton.

“No,” he said in disbelief and mock-dismay. “This can’t be possible. This isn’t  _ legal.” _

“HAHAHAHAHA,  **_YES!!_ ** ” Fell said. Being the shortest Papyrus, he seemed more excited than anyone else. “ _ NOW  _ WHO’S THE FUCKING SHORTY?”

“I refuse to give up the name,” Stretch insisted, still melodramatic. “I’d rather live a lie and be kinda happy than live a.. Truth?? And not be??”

“That was awful,” Red said blankly. “My dog could do better, honestly.”

“Harsh.”

“ANYWAY!!” Rus changed the subject. “SANSES!! INTRODUCE!! YOURSELVES!!!”

“Oh, right, that’s a thing we gotta do,” Comic said, as if he had forgotten.

“THIS WAS  _ YOUR  _ IDEA!!!”

“I think I fell asleep for a few seconds.” He shrugged. He continued before Rus had the chance to chastise him some more, turning to the newcomer and gesturing to each respective Sans as he said their names. “I’m Comic, this is Red, that’s Blue, and your bro’s Razz.”

The new Papyrus seemed surprised that his brother would tolerate being called Razz, but kept his mouth shut.

“As for  _ your _ nickname, hmmm..” Blue pondered, trying to think of something.

“What kinda condiment do you usually drink?” Comic asked. The newcomer looked as curious and confused as he could with one eye.

“Most lazies drink some kinda condiment thing,” Red explained, shrugging. “Food’s pretty much always been our go-to for nicknames, even though they usually don’t stick.”

He hesitated, but finally spoke.

“Maple syrup,” he answered. “But like, spiked.”

“OH, SO WE COULD CALL YOU MAPLE!” Rus suggested.

“No.”

“AT LEAST THE DENIAL WAS EXPECTED!”

“You got any better ideas, pal?” Red asked.

“Everyone back home usually calls me Skinny,” he said. He made an OK symbol with his hand and put his wrist through it, still leaving plenty of room in the loop. “I have  _ no clue  _ why though.”

“Ohhh-kay,” Blue said, glancing around. “..How about we call you Slim instead? That way it won’t feel like we’re bullying you!”

“Alright, that works I guess.”

“WELL THEN,” Rus put out his hand, and  Slim shook it. “NICE TO MEET YOU, SLIM JIM!”

“Don’t call me Slim Jim.”

“GOTCHA, SLIM SHADY!”

“Stop.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slim's voice probably sounds like a monotone gerard way


	3. Spiderman Waits for No One.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone tries to get to know Slim better, but he seems to have difficulty talking to people who look exactly like him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> typing Red's messages almost gave me a migraine

After everything was sorted out and everyone decided it was too early for all of this chaos, Razz reluctantly led his brother back to his-  _ their  _ house. He was already listing his rules before he even unlocked the gate.

“No smoking inside, by which I actually mean  _ no drug usage whatsoever, _ ” he said. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Slim roll his eyes. “Complain all you want, but if you ‘light up’ in the house I’ll call the cops on you and leave you in jail for, like, two weeks. Also, take your shoes off after going in, because I hate dirt.”

“How do you walk so arrogantly with that stick so far up your ass?” Slim asked as he opened the door.

“The same way you act like you  _ aren’t  _ higher than a kite right now,” Razz retorted, taking off his heels. “Your eyelights are bright pink, Papyrus.”

“Heyy, if I was able to trick the rest of.. Um, them.. Who’s to say I can’t trick the cops?”

“You didn’t trick them, they just have  _ manners.  _ They don’t know you well enough to call you out on your shit.”

“I  _ can’t  _ believe you’d say that to me. I’m offended, honestly.”

Razz rolled his eyes. “You can sleep on the couch, then.”

He began to walk away and up the stairs as his brother flopped down onto the couch, not bothering to get a good look at it beforehand. This resulted in a very  _ angry  _ hiss, and the sound of Slim’s short, high-pitched scream as he jumped off of the couch and struggled to get the cat to stop trying to kill him.

“Oh yeah, by the way,” his brother paused at the top of the stairs, “you might wanna watch out for the cat. And take off your shoes, dammit!”

With that, he left his own brother for dead as he went to his room, closed, and locked the door behind him. He’d probably have to clean up a huge mess in the morning, but it would definitely be worth it.

* * *

 

**_Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt!_ **

Razz grumbled something inaudible, turning over on his bed.

**_Bzzt! Bzzt!!_ **

He tried to break the alarm clock again, but it was already broken. He opened one of his eyes, and noticed his phone freaking out next to him. He picked it up, turned it on, and felt immediately blinded from the screen’s light. He made it dimmer, and looked at the screen. It was blowing up with texts from the Sanses group chat.

 

**Razz answer the fucking messages you knee @ 9:16 AM**

**Comic:** so like wtf is up with slim

**Red:** hes prob jus parnoid or smth

**Blueberry:** Well we don’t actually know anything about him yet! We just have to get to know him!

**Blueberry:** He seems pretty similar to Red, so maybe he’s just acting seclusive because he doesn’t want people to know he’s actually a huge softie!!

**Red:** sht ur enti re fuck up

**Comic:** why can’t you type normally man

**Red:** bc fck u

**Blueberry:** He means “because I’m spiteful and don’t like people being able to actually read my messages”

**Blueberry:** :)))))))))

**Red:** u jst had to go fr th thrussy huh

**Comic:** stop

**Red:** why hsnt th razzbitch sed anythn yte

**Red:** i mea n id expct im to tlk shit abt his bro by now bt nah

**Comic:** maybe slim killed him

**Blueberry:** Let’s spam his phone until he replies!!!

**Comic:** raspbbitch

**Red:** razzle dazzle

**Blue:** Razzy

*** Comic has changed the title!**

**Red:** razzalaza ding dick

 

The rest of the messages were very,  _ very  _ stupid variations of his nickname. More and more messages were being sent for as long as he didn’t answer. He decided that he wanted to die, and take all of them with him.

 

**Razz answer the fucking texts @ 9:18 AM**

**Razz:** OH MY GOD W H AT

**Blueberry:** It worked!!!

**Comic:** and we didn’t even have to get a sacrificial lamb

**Red:** mayb u dint bt im n ot admittn anythn

**Razz:** Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the way you text?

**Red:** Svrl tmes yes

**Comic:** where were u dude

**Razz:** I’m pretty sure I overslept or something. I broke my alarm clock at like 1 in the morning bc your brother is an asshole

**Comic:** ay, it was fell’s idea

**Razz:** Wait I never even told anyone about it yet how

**Razz:** Did you already know you fucking a sS

**Comic:** those two suck at keeping secrets man

**Blueberry:** ANYWAY!!!!!

**Blueberry:** Tell us!! ABout!!! Your brother!!!!!!!!!!!

**Red:** ye tel us shit

**Razz:** uh?? Ok????

**Razz:** It won’t be nice shit tho

**Red:** wtf is a helthy bro bond

**Comic:** red keep ur self pity outta this

**Comic:** it’s razz’s turn to self pity

**Razz:** OK FIne well basically

**Razz:** He;s a huge dick

**Razz:** Like,, we were raised rich as fuck and he was spoiled rotten while I had to get a job

**Comic:** i’m sensing a bit of jealousy here

**Red:** also parental favoritism

**Blueberry:** Why is that the only thing you type normally???

**Comic:** wait hold the up fuck you were rich

**Comic:** i legit just noticed that

**Razz:** Yeah our family had a lot of money

**Razz:** I don’t really remember what our parents did; other than that it ended with divorce n shit and my brother lived with our dad while I lived with mom.

**Razz:** It’s fuzzy, but I’m pretty sure our dad had most of the money; which kinda makes sense as to why Papyrus grew up to be a huge brat

**Red:** harsh

**Razz:** And then they both died and I had to take care of him on my own

**Red:**  h arSH

**Razz:** Anyway I’m a fucking idiot and ended up spoiling him even more

**Razz:** Especially when I was in the royal guard

**Razz:** Also when I saw him two years ago he was completely hooked on drugs

**Razz:** Probably still is tbh

**Comic:** oh jeez

**Razz:** But yeah that’s pretty much all I can tell you about him

**Red:** so hes a rich stonr basiclly

**Razz:** Pretty much

**Red:** sweat can he hook me up

**Blueberry:** RED NO

* * *

 

Slim blinked his eyes open, waking up from a nap he must’ve taken about an hour after the cat tried to take out his other eye. He groggily sat up, and looked around the room. It was trashed, of course. From his headache, he could tell that the high had worn off by now. Fan-freaking-tastic. He fished his phone out from the bag he'd been using as a pillow, and checked the time. 9:20 AM. AKA, way too early to be awake. He was about to lay back down, but noticed a single text that must've been sent over an hour ago.

 

**8:13 AM**

**[UNSAVED NUMBER]:** Greetings!! This is Rus, we met last night! Or this morning???? Anyway, Razz gave me your number, and I wanted to see if we could get to know each other better before I add you to the Papyrus group chat?? Send me a text back when you get this!!

 

He stared at the message through a squinted eye. Rus… The memory was hazy, but if he remember correctly, Rus was the ditz who yelled everything he said. Fell was the same in those terms, except Rus looked like a tall marshmallow. Slim also remembered being called Slim Jim and Slim Shady. Ugh, he honestly would’ve rather been called stick, slenderman, or literally any other kind of skinny insult he could think of. He shrugged it off, and saved the contact onto his phone in case he decided to text back some other day. He finally started to lay back down so that he could wake up in a few more hours, but his phone buzzed again.

 

**9:22 AM**

**ditzy dunce:** Oh by the way, I’m really sorry about how Fell introduced himself!! It was very rude!! It’s just, he only really tolerates me calling him Cinnamon, and when anyone else calls him that he gets very defensive! So please forgive him, as he comes from a place where affectionate nicknames don’t really exist!

**ditzy dunce:** I’m!! Using way too many!! Exclamation points!!!!!

 

Okay, Slim had to admit, that was kinda cute.

 

**Kinda cute ditz dude:** Anyway text me back when you can!

 

For a second, he was actually considering texting back, but lowered his phone as he heard his brother walking down the stairs.

“Oh,” Razz said, slightly surprised to see his brother turn towards him, “I wasn’t expecting you to be awake.”

“Well, regrettably,” Slim sighed, “I can’t go back to sleep because people keep talking to me.”

Ignoring the subtle “leave me alone so I can fucking sleep” vibes he was giving off, his brother noticed the phone in his hand as he was making his way to the kitchen.

“Did Rus text you?” He asked. “I gave him your number before we left last night, but I wasn’t sure if you got a new phone or not.”

“Oh uh,” Slim responded, “Yeah, he did. He uses lotsa punctuation.”

“Yeah, everyone texts in their own weird way,” Razz sighed. “Just  _ wait  _ until you have to read Red’s way of texting. If you  _ can  _ read it, anyway.”

And with that, he went off into the kitchen, leaving his brother to wonder just how bad Red’s texting could be. 

“Oh, by the way,” he said, raising his voice a bit so that Slim could hear him without having to leave the kitchen, “The other passionates are coming over soon. We have stuff planned.”

“Passionates?”   


“One of the categories separating the two types of brothers. There’s the ‘passionates’ which are Rus, Blue, Fell, and me. The other one is the ‘lazies,’ which are Comic, Stretch, Red, and now you, too. It’s basically just things to separate ourselves in types other than ‘sanses’ and ‘papyruses.’”

Suddenly, the doorbell began ringing non-stop, as if several people were pressing it immediately after one another.

“Speak of the 3 devils,” Razz said, visibly annoyed as he rushed out of the kitchen to open the door. Outside, there were the three he had previously mentioned. As they came inside, they all took off their shoes.

“MOVIE!! MOVIE!! MOVIE!!” They chanted, hardly even noticing Slim on the couch as they picked up his brother.

“OHMYGODPUTME _ DOWN _ ,” Razz yelled, kicking and squirming. They did so, and finally saw Slim staring at them, wide-eyed, from the couch.

“OH, SLIM!” Rus smiled. “DID YOU GET MY MESSAGES? YOU NEVER ANSWERED, SO I WASN’T REALLY SURE!”

“Oh, uhh,” Slim hesitated, still finding it hard to talk to  _ himself _ . “I, uh, I mean, yeah, yeah I did. I got them. I was just sleep- I just woke up like a minute ago, so- but I did get them, and I was gonna answer but now I guess I don’t need to??”

Smooth. Real smooth. The confused, narrowed-brow look the former gave him just  _ proved  _ how good he was at talking. He definitely  _ didn’t  _ feel like slamming his head right into the TV right then and there, just to take him out of this situation. He  _ certainly  _ didn’t want to get so high that he didn’t even remember  _ why  _ he got high. Nope, he was completely satisfied with how that sentence came out. He wouldn’t change it at any time, ever, even if he had the chance.

Luckily, Rus shook the confused look off of his face.

“OH, OK!” He said. “LAST NIGHT WAS PRETTY EVENTFUL, AFTER ALL! WE CAN TALK LATER, IF YOU WOULD LIKE!”

“Uh, ok. Yeah.”

“CAN WE GO NOW?” Fell asked, already putting his heeled boots back on. “SPIDERMAN WAITS FOR NO ONE.”

Agreeing, everyone put on their shoes and headed out the door. Despite his screaming protests, they decided to carry Razz over their shoulders all the way to Fell’s car. Slim was left with himself, and grabbed a box of Bagel Bites out of the portable freezer he had installed onto the backpack. He didn’t even bother heating them up as he unwrapped and ate them while they were still frozen, turning on the TV in front of him. He surfed through the channels, and nearly choked on one of the tiny pizzas as he came across one with a certain familiar robot.

Except... He wasn’t familiar at all, actually.

 

He looked like Napstaton, but he was  _ pink.  _ He was wearing heels, had no visor, no hat, no coat, practically  _ nothing  _ indicating why Slim thought they were the same person _.  _ In fact, the only thing that made him look even  _ remotely  _ similar to Napstaton was the fact that he was a robot.  _ That  _ much was obvious. He leaned forward more, squinting at the screen. Far beyond confused, he looked at the logo in the corner.

 

MTT.

 

What the fuck did that mean?

 

Back home, it was  _ NTT  _ for  _ Napstaton.  _ What, was this  _ Mapstaton  _ or something? That sounded stupid! It sounded like some kinda rip-off Dora-the-Explorer-I’m-the-Map-piece-of-shit that needed to be burned ASAP. 

 

He was  _ seriously  _ considering lighting a blunt, when his thoughts were interrupted by fast knocking on the door, as if 6 hands were knocking at once. Ugh, more social interaction.

“Whaaaaat?” He asked, not even bothering to get up from his spot on the couch.

“Technically, you’re supposed to say ‘who’s there,’” Comic’s voice corrected. The knocking continued.

“Who’s there?”

“Theo-”

“For fuck’s sake,” Red’s voice interrupted, “just let us in.”

“Rude,” Comic said, sounding as if he were pouting.

“If I have t’hear another knock-knock joke I’m gonna die,” Red complained. “Unlike you, my Toriel told dead baby jokes through the door. If ya do  _ that _ , maybe I’ll let ya finish th’joke.”

Officially conflicted on whether he hated or admired Red’s personality, Slim reluctantly got up from the couch and opened the door to see all three lazies standing there. He noticed that tallest one was smoking a cigarette.

“Hey,” Stretch greeted, waving a bit. “Mind if we come in?”

“Uh--uuuhm,” Slim stammered.  _ Why the heck was it so hard for him to talk to people other than his brother _ . “Sure. Yeah, ok.”

He moved out of the way, and the three came in, taking off their slippers. They seemed to have barely changed since when he first saw them. They were wearing the same pajamas, but now had put on jackets to cover up their arms. The two sanses’ pajamas were space-themed, Red’s being a bit more, well,  _ red  _ in color. Stretch’s hoodie was covering his shirt, but his pants were long and soft, with shark patterns all over them. Slim decided that he would fit in with these “lazies” a lot more than he initially thought. He also noted that Stretch put the cigarette out before entering the home.

“So, uh, Slim right?” Comic asked, and he nodded. “Is it ok if we ask you some questions?”

“What, a-am I in trouble or somethin’?” He asked back, slightly worried. He knew for a fact that there was some highly illegal shit in his bag, but he didn’t think they’d be on his ass  _ that  _ early on.

“Nah, don’t take it personally,” Comic reassured, “We’ve done this with almost everyone new who’s popped up. We’re just trying to find any possible clues why sanses and papyruses keep comin’ up outta nowhere.”

Slim hesitated for a moment before sitting back down onto the couch.

“Alright, uh, ask away I guess,” he said. The others sat onto it aswell. Slim had no clue that it could hold four people at once. What the fuck. Back home it could barely even hold  _ two _ .

“Kay, first question,” Comic began, taking a pen and a notepad out of his pocket. “What were you doing the moment before you appeared here?”

“I was- I was working on the, uh, the machine thing.”

“The machine thing? Can you elaborate on that?”

“Ok uh--” he paused, trying to think of the right words. “I was fixing it up, I guess? It was really banged up, but Undyne let me do some digging around her lab and I found some blueprints, they really helped.”

He looked at the other skeleton, who had fallen silent. His eyes were dark, and he seemed to be thinking something.

“Uhh,” Slim said, “Did I say something wrong..?”

Finally, Comic seemed to snap out of whatever kind of trance he was in.

“Okay, well, Red and Stretch are gonna take care of the rest of this ‘cause I got shit to do  _ right this second _ ,” he said, getting up and going for the door.

As he walked out, Slim asked the two others what he might’ve said.

“You didn’t say anything wrong, trust me,” Stretch assured. “I think he’s just going to the lab to look for those blueprints.”

“Soooooo, next question,” Red said, taking out a notepad of his own. “Whaddya know ‘bout that machine?”

“That’s not what we usually ask, Red,” Stretch pointed out.

“This isn’t a  _ usual  _ thing, man. He  _ fixed  _ the machine. No one else’s had that bright-ass light when they popped up, not to mention, it still had a weird afterglow when we got down there. Hell,  _ he brought a travel backpack. _ ”

“Good point, I guess.”

They looked at Slim expectantly.

“Well-I-uh,” he stuttered, not sure at all how to explain. “I don’t really remember what it was for, just that it’s been broken and in the basement for a long time. The blueprints said that it was supposed to be some kind of “journey across time and space,” and I just decided to pack everything up and go for it.”

“Do you still have the prints with you now?” Stretch asked.

“No, I-” he paused, “I wasn’t.. Planning on coming back.”

They sat there, silent. Slim was afraid, yet again, that he had said something wrong. The two other skeletons looked at each other, and back at him. They seemed to have some kind of agreement.

“Final question,” Stretch said.

He paused, looking Slim straight in the eye.

 

“Do you remember anyone by the name of Dr. W.D. Gaster?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter doesn't feel as funny as the other two but?? I tried so that's good enough hahahahahahha-


	4. Motherfudging Bull Droppings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slim remembers something he shouldn't have, and alarms others around him.
> 
> Some warnings: Drug usage, kinda graphic description of trauma, and lotsa bad decisions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this is becoming one of those fics that start off nice and happy but then gets progressively worse and dark as it goes on oh boy

Comic was searching through a pile of papers in the lab when his phone went off. He took it out, only glancing at it for a second before setting it down on the small desk next to him and sorting through the messy files, frantically searching for any sign of blueprints he hadn’t already seen before. He accidentally put one of the papers over the phone, and finally got a good look at the screen after moving the report.

 

**9:30 AM**

**Stretch:** dude you never shoulda left

 **Stretch:** we fucked up man

 **Comic:** tf did you do I’ve only been gone for like 5 minutes

 **Stretch:** we uh

 **Stretch:** we might’ve asked him about gaster

 **Stretch:** and now he’s really freaking out

 **Stretch:** comic??

 **Stretch:** you there?

 

Comic was distracted by a paper that he was almost certain he’d never seen in his life. He yanked it out from the mess. On it was the machine that he had in his basement. There was a note written in WingDings off to the side.

“...Journey across time and space,” he read aloud to himself, brushing his hand over the symbols.

* * *

 

“Well?” Red asked expectantly, trying his best to get Slim to calm down. “What’d he say?”

“He won’t answer!” Stretch said, looking at his phone in semi-frustration. “I tried calling him, but it’s like he just randomly lost his phone or something!”

Slim hardly even heard them, blood somehow pounding in his figurative ears. He could feel his soul thudding against his ribs, and his entire body trembled. He could hardly breathe. Skeletons didn’t even _need_ to breathe, why did he suddenly have to now? His vision blurred and the world around him spun as he curled in on himself, tightly gripping his elbows. Red was saying something to him again, but he couldn’t make it out, couldn’t think straight. His mind kept coming back to that _name._ W. D. Gaster. Wing Ding Gaster. _Doctor_ Wing Ding Gaster.

He felt Red grip his shoulders, shaking him lightly. The motion made him remember. He remembered being held back, monsters gripping his arms tight in order to keep him from running into a closed off area in the core. He saw who he assumed was the doctor himself glance at him from inside before the doors closed. He saw the workers block off the entrance after letting him go. He remembered the explosion that followed not long afterward, engulfing the entire room and then bursting through the doors, blowing them off the hinges, the monsters in front of him unintentionally shielding him from the blast with their own bodies. He remembered screams, sirens, alarms. He remembered being found by his older brother, with no other monsters in sight.

After the memory ended, he found himself gasping for air. He realized he was crying, no, _sobbing,_ and he couldn’t stop. He couldn’t see anything but colorful, blurry blobs, now. There was a loud ringing in his ears, but he could hear a more familiar voice speaking in a gentle tone.

“C-c’mon, pal, there’s nothin’ t’be afraid of,” the voice told him, seeming uncertain whether it was saying the right things. “This is only, uh, temporary. It won’t last. You just gotta _breathe_.”

He took a deep breath, hiccuping in between.

“There ya go, it’s ok,” the voice assured. “Deep breaths, you got it.”

As the voice kept talking, he kept focusing on his breathing. His vision slowly cleared out, and he saw his brother looking back at him, but he looked different. Oh, duh, that was Red. His brother would never act in such a way as to _help_ someone.

It took what seemed like years, but he was finally able to calm down enough to speak.

“S.. Sorry,” he said, his voice meek. He wiped his face, finally realizing that his tears had soaked the fluff of his hood. Fantastic.

“Ya got nothin’ t’be sorry _for,_ ” Red pointed out. “I’ve had my fair share of panic attacks. They ain’t fun.”

“W-where’d Stretch go?” Slim asked. There were still plenty of tears that escaped, to his annoyance.

“He's been tryna get a hold of Comic for ‘bout half an hour, now,” Red answered. “‘Left the room when it started gettin’ ridiculous.”

“...Half an hour?”

“Panic messes with your sense of time. Anyway, you need anythin’? A drink, some food, whatever?”

Slim’s imaginary stomach turned at the thought of eating something at the moment. The thought of drugs, though, was something he couldn't get out of his mind. He looked around himself on the couch, but couldn't see his bag anywhere. He found himself growing worried.

“Lookin’ for your bag?” Red asked. The former nodded quickly. The shorter skeleton reached behind the armrest of his side of the couch, and picked the bag up from the floor. “You knocked it off when ya started… y’know.”

Slim didn't waste a second, quickly grabbing the bag out of the other’s hands. He unzipped the biggest part of it, and rummaged throughout the cluster of stuff inside. He occasionally had to wipe his eye because, apparently, it had decided to keep watering up, no matter how much he tried to stop. He immediately felt a wave of relief when he found a bag containing his favorite green substance. As he began to roll it up, though, he noticed Red staring.

“Oh, uh, d-..do you..?” He wasn't sure how to ask. He wasn't used to sharing, and didn't really _want_ to share anyway. “I mean- I guess you kinda seem like the kind of guy who would-”

“No, no,” the other interrupted, waving his hand dismissively. “I prefer alcohol. I was just starin’ ‘cause I wasn't really expectin’ it.”

“Literally _no one_ will pick up their pho-” Stretch cut himself off, walking back into the room from the kitchen and noticing the relatively calmer situation on the couch. “Oh hey, I guess you calmed him down. Good job, Red.”

“No thanks to you,” Red said, glaring at the other.

“Need anything?” Stretch asked as Slim took a long drag from the joint.

“A-actually, uh, yeah,” he answered after puffing out some smoke. “Is it ok if you, um, c-could leave me alone… f-for a while? I don’t really wanna be around anyone right now.”

“I… guess we could?” Red responded, seeming to weigh the options. “You sure you’ll be fine on your own?”

He nodded, and the other two made absolute sure he’d be okay, even writing a note for him about what happened for Razz to read once he got home. After a quick exchange of numbers, they left him alone with himself.

* * *

 

“YOU’RE BOTH FUCKING _ASSHOLES_ ,” Fell announced as Blue and Razz walked out of a separate theater, nearly an hour after the two papyruses had walked out of their own.

“Hey, you made _me_ buy the tickets,” Razz smirked. “Did you really think I wouldn’t find some way to get revenge for making me miss the sunrise?”

“BUT WHY THE _EMOJI MOVIE_?” Rus complained. “I’VE LITERALLY NEVER CRINGED THAT HARD AT A MOVIE EVER.”

“Your suffering pleases me,” he teased.

“Spiderman was pretty good, though!” Blue said before chewing on a snack he didn’t finish during the movie.

“OH, GOOD FOR YOU, YOU PIECES OF MOTHERFU-”

“CINNAMON, WE’RE IN PUBLIC AND PEOPLE ARE _STARING-”_

“-UUUDGING BULL DROPPINGS.”

As the skeleton’s eye twitched in suppressed fury, the two sanses laughed. After exiting the theater and bickering to each other while walking down the sidewalk, Rus suggested a truce.

“HOW ABOUT ICE CREAM?” He proposed. “NO JAPES, NO TRAPS. JUST ICE CREAM AND BRAIN FREEZES!”

The others reluctantly agreed.

* * *

 

They were officially banned from Cold Stone Creamery.

“I still blame Fell,” Razz said, pouting in the back seat of the car.

“OH, SO I PUT ICE CREAM DOWN MY _OWN_ SHIRT, THEN?” Fell asked from the driver’s seat.

“At least I didn’t put it in your fucking eye sockets!”

“Girls, girls, you’re both pretty,” Blue said, cutting them both off. He wiped some ice cream off of his face. “How about we just listen to some music?”

“GREAT IDEA, BLUE!” Rus said, taking the aux cord and plugging it into Fell’s phone.

Not even a minute later, they all held their breath as they heard the sound of a single G note.

* * *

 

**12:13**

**Red:** hey man

 **Red:** jst txtin 2 chck up on u

 **Slim:** m still fine as ill evr b

 **Slim:** lso v hig

 **Slim:** hi

 **Slim:** hugh

 **Red:** tke ur tme

 **Slim:** up

 

Red sighed. He couldn’t help but sympathize with the other, having had his own experience with a hostile world. He was impressed, though, that Slim had managed to still be cooperative when dealing with the several other skeletons. Whether it was out of fear, or simple common courtesy, it was one way he stood out from the other Fellverse monsters. When Red had shown up, he had wanted nothing to do with _anything_ in Undertale. There was even a point when he tried to get the machine to work, but to no avail. Why hadn’t he ever thought to dig around the lab? Oh yeah, probably because Alphys was somehow _more_ terrifying here than in his own world. Even after four years, he felt like she was gonna take out a gigantic needle at any moment and stick it right into his soul. The suspicion was completely irrational, he knew, but it was still there.

Wait. If, according to Razz, Swapfell’s Undyne was the same way, how did Slim ever get permission to dig around her lab?

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a car pulling up into the driveway, loud music muffled by the walls.  He couldn’t recognise it from his room, but he guessed it was some kind of MCR song. His thoughts were confirmed as he heard the front door being opened, and the passionates screaming lyrics at the top of their non-existent lungs. Fell must’ve been _really_ scared of teenagers, considering he was almost always wearing dark clothes and striking violent poses. Deciding he did _not_ want to be the only lazy in a house filled with passionates, he got up from his bed and walked out of his room.

“OH, HI RED!” Rus greeted. He waved. “I THOUGHT YOU WERE INTERROGATING SLIM WITH STRETCH AND MY BROTHER?”

“We were, but we kinda had t’cut it short,” he explained, shrugging. “‘Asked him some things we shouldn’t’ve.”

“What happened?” Razz asked, suddenly looking worried.

“Uh,” Red hesitated, “he might’ve had a panic atta-”

“And you left him there _alone?!”_ Razz sounded increasingly worried, as well as angry, by the second.

“He said he’d be-”

He was cut off by the sound of the door closing. Razz was gone.

“WHAT THE ACTUAL _HELL_ MADE YOU THINK THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA?” Fell asked. While he looked less intimidating with ice cream stains all over his outfit, Red still felt himself shrink down under the weight of his glare. Old habits die hard, even if he knew his brother wouldn’t hurt him.

“SHOULD WE GO CHECK UP ON HIM?” Rus asked, concern in his voice.

“Maybe we should let Razz handle it?” Blue pondered.

“CONSIDERING WHAT HAPPENED THIS MORNING,” Fell remarked, “THAT PROBABLY ISN’T A GOOD IDEA.”

“YOU AND RED FIGHT ALL THE TIME, THOUGH!” Rus pointed out. “YOU ALWAYS MAKE UP IN THE END!”

“WE DON’T ‘MAKE UP,’” Fell corrected. “WE IGNORE EACH OTHER UNTIL WE FORGET WHAT WE WERE FIGHTING ABOUT.”

“Not to mention,” Red added on, “We usually don’t get out _attacks_ until at least twenty minutes in.”

As the conversation went on, he found himself hoping more and more that Slim was _nothing_ like him.

* * *

 

Razz rushed up to the door, attempting to shove it open hard. All he did was jiggle the knob and push harder than he needed, considering it didn’t even open. It was locked. He reached for the keys in his pocket, but they were gone. They must’ve fallen out during the ice cream war. He wished he had listened to Fell’s advice and gotten a spare key, but the rivalry between the two stopped him from doing _anything_ that tall, emo twelve-year-old said. He went around the back, tried to open the door, but that was locked as well. He cursed under his breath as he went back around to the front, and rang the doorbell. 50 seconds passed. He rang it again.

“Papyrus, open the door!” He yelled through as he rang. He heard some clumsy, heavy footsteps as he assumed his brother got up from the couch and in front of the door. He waited for it to open, but nothing happened. “Papyrus?”

“If-” The other hesitated, voice quiet and with a slightly fearful tone, “If I open the door, can you promise me you won't a-actually call the cops?”

Razz blinked. For a second, he didn't even know what Slim was talking about until he remembered their conversation the night before. That only made him _more_ confused, though. Two years ago, his brother _never_ took his threats seriously, no matter what the circumstances were. What the hell _happened?_

“I-” he paused, “Yeah, I promise.”

The door opened, revealing Slim inside, looking down at his brother. There was a joint between his teeth, which Razz assumed was the reasoning behind the question. He had apparently taken off the bandage, leaving the view of the eye that was forced shut. The pulled-up hood kept Razz from being able to tell how far up it went, but he guessed that it was _far._ As he walked inside, ignoring the disgusting smell, he finally voiced the question that seemed to be eating him from the inside out.

“You've… never taken my threats _that_ seriously before,” he said. “What happened in the past two years that you aren't telling me?”

“I've-- ...just been through some shit, okay?” Slim sighed, choosing not to answer directly as he reclaimed his seat on the couch. “I don't really know whether a threat is real or fake anymore, and, more often than not, I haven't been able to _afford_ to guess. There's a reason I haven't talked to that guy- Fell, I think- yet. I feel like I'm gonna slip up and he'll kill me.”

“He didn't really _mean_ what he said last night,” Razz assured.

“And how do you expect me to believe that?”

Razz sighed. He tried to think of any way he could _possibly_ help the situation. Knowing himself, he was probably going to end up making it worse anyway.

“Y’know,” he began, sitting down next to the other, “living here alone hasn't all been sunshine and rainbows. I got ice cream shoved into my eye sockets this morning.”

Slim snorted, and for a second Razz felt some pride, before he realized it was of a mocking nature.

“Oh, yeah, you must've had it _so fucking hard_ these past years,” he said, not even trying to mask the sarcasm. “Having 6 other people who look _exactly_ like the both of us as _friends_ to fall back on if you ever get into trouble. Sounds like real, actual _hell._ Not to mention, a pretty nice house. I can only _imagine_ the bills.”

Razz found himself taken aback at the attitude. Sure, he was expecting things to go wrong quick, if the first night was anything to go off of, but he wasn't expecting _this._

“Look, you’ve got it good, alright?” Slim said, dropping the act. “Don't act like this ‘new life’ of yours _isn't_ perfect. Hell, this scar? It's only the tip of the iceberg.”

“The tip…?”

He finally pulled down his hood, and Razz’s stomach churned.

 

The crack went all the way to the back of his brother’s skull.

 

He was about to say something, when Slim kept talking.

“I've been stabbed, burned, mugged, kidnapped and held for ransom that I had to pay off _myself,_ and even managed to make the _queen_ want me dead,” he listed, slight anger lacing his voice. “Don't act like you haven't been living the fucking _dream_ without me.”

He didn't know how to respond to _that._ He wanted to know everything that happened, all so that he could kill every single monster who had done his younger brother wrong, if they were ever unlucky enough to get to go back.

“Alright, you know what?” Razz asked. The other seemed cautious at his tone. “Tell me _everything_ that's happened, all the way back to when I disappeared.”

Slim looked at him with a wide eye, somehow surprised that his older brother actually _cared_ what happened to him in the past two years.

  
“And don't you _dare_ leave anything out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this comedy in this one feels really forced and I'm sorry i have absolutely no clue what i'm doing


	5. The Royal Guard’s Kind of a Gang, Isn't It?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm not even gonna give this a proper summary because it's so fucked up oh my god
> 
> WARNINGS: Drug mention, being held at knife-point & robbed, kidnapping, short description of fire-based torture, sex-based threats (nothing actually happens in that context, though), assassination, war talk, very brief description of lab-based torture, and a very short but graphic description of violence. Please read with caution.
> 
> PLEASE NOTE: While things may be confusing, you CAN skip this chapter if you cannot handle the themes listed above. I did not mean to make it so graphic, but it happened anyway. I will do my best to make things the least amount of confusing as possible in the next chapter if anyone decides to do so. I want everyone reading this to read it safely, so if this will cause anyone to panic in any kind of way, please skip it. Thank you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the amount of research i put into this chapter is gonna get me arrested

Slim-- or Papyrus, in this context-- still found himself reeling every time he thought of the fight between him and his brother the day before. They fought often, of course, but this one… This fight had been _much_ worse than usual. As Sans had run out of the house, he seemed so… disappointed, under the fury in his expression. But Papyrus didn’t care enough to wonder why. The fight itself had been his older brother demanding that he got a job, as well as other, less-major and less-bullshit topics. But he was perfectly fine where he _was,_ dammit, he didn’t _need_ a job. As long as Sans paid the bills, and even _shared_ the pocket money with his little brother, the other would comfortably spend as much of it as he wanted, even if he went overboard sometimes.

He didn’t remember why he had started thinking of that particular topic on his way back home from meeting up with his dealer in the capital, but he glared at the ground as he walked nonetheless. Some gangs stared threateningly at him from the alleyway, but he ignored them. He knew they wouldn’t dare touch him, after all.

A street rat on the sidewalk asked him for some change, and he walked over. He pulled a used napkin and a marker out from his jacket, sloppily drew a dollar sign onto it, and dropped it into their bucket. He walked off without a word, almost feeling their glower on his back as he turned the corner.

 

* * *

 

1 week had passed since the fight, and there had been no sign of Sans anywhere.

 

Papyrus had expected this, as his brother tended to sneak off for a few days every time the two had a particularly bad fight, but it was usually only for 3 or so days. He hoped the other would get over his pouting soon, considering plenty of gangs and monsters were giving him a lot more malicious glares than normal. He jumped as he heard banging on the door, and rushed down from his room, almost tripping on the stairs. He didn’t know why, but loud noises always tended to get his soul racing faster than caffeine ever could. He opened the door to see Alphys standing there, looking absolutely _livid._

“Where the fuck is Sans?” She asked. “He’s been missing training for a _WEEK!”_

“How should I know?” He asked back, not reacting as the lizard monster’s face became more furious.

“Uh, because he’s your _brother,_ ” she said, glaring daggers.

“I haven’t seen him any more than you have, _Barney_ ,” he replied, shrugging. She got out her battle axe. “But he probably wouldn’t be very happy to see that his boss killed his bro before he even got a chance.”

She didn’t put it away. “Don’t _push_ me, Papyrus. You can’t use his protection against _me_.”

“Oh, I know.” He shrugged again. “I’m just sayin’, you may lose a pretty valuable guard member, and we wouldn’t want _that,_ would we?”

They simply stared at each other for a few seconds, before Alphys snapped.

“Just tell him to get his ass over to my house _stat_ when you see him again,” she growled, raising her axe threateningly. He said goodbye in a mockingly-cheerful tone, and closed the door on her. He heard her stomping off in the snow, and went back up to his room.

He _really_ hoped Sans came back soon.

 

* * *

 

Only a day after Alphys had come to his door, gossip began to spread throughout Snowdin. People were spreading rumors that the second-in-command of the royal guard had gone missing, that he was kidnapped, even that he was _dead._ Papyrus could tell everyone in Muffet’s buffet was staring at him as he at his food, but avoided eye contact. He could hear whispers, snickering, and some kind of plan being made between the monsters who would always have some kind of, or _several_ kinds of alcohol with every meal they had at the restaurant.

“Y’know,” one of them whispered, just loud enough for the skeleton to make out, “if we use a knife ’n’wear gloves, no one'll be able t’trace our magic.”

Welp, that was as good a sign as any to get home as fast as he possibly could. He heightened his defense as much as possible with his low magic levels, and left his food at the bar. As he made his way to the house, he heard feet trudging through the snow behind him. He figured he was only being paranoid, but quickened his steps anyway. He quickly unlocked and opened the door as he reached the building.

He would have been relieved after stepping inside, if not for the monster behind him shoving their way in, capturing him in a headlock, and something cold being pressed against his neck.

“Heya, Skinny,” the monster behind him taunted. It sounded like the one he had overheard whispering. He struggled in their grasp, but was far too weak to free himself. “You should probably stay still. Unless you _wanna_ dust, I mean.”

He was quick to stop struggling, and he watched as two other drunken monsters sloppily made their way into the room. The headlock loosened just enough to speak, and Papyrus took a breath.

“ _SA-”_

He was almost immediately cut off by the hand around his neck raising and covering his mouth, the other hand applying more pressure to the knife.

“If you’re _quiet,_ ” the monster holding him back growled, “we won’t _kill_ you. Capiche?”

He nodded quickly, and while the hand was slowly taken away from his mouth, the knife remained the same pressure. He cautiously leaned his head away from it as one of the two other monsters began patting him down. Luckily, all that was in his pockets was his phone at the time, which the monster promptly took. The third stranger searched throughout the house, searching for anything worthwhile. The one who had taken his phone glared at him after a few failed password attempts.

“What’s the password, Stick?” She asked, her voice scratchy.

 

* * *

 

“I don’t really remember much after that,” Slim said, sighing. “I only remember waking up the morning after. My head hurt like hell, and it seemed like they only took what they could fit in their pockets.”

“And that was only a _week_ after I…” Razz faded out, trying to wrap his head around it. He had known his brother would be practically doomed without him, as he had said several times while he was still _there_ , but this was worse than he had originally thought.

“Don’t start freakin’ out yet,” Slim reminded, “I’ve still got two years to go.”

 

* * *

 

Six months after Sans’s disappearance.

 

By now, Papyrus had gotten a new phone, which was useless since he kept getting mugged every time he left the safety of his own home. Actually, home wasn’t very safe, either. On the bright side, he finally learned how to use a hammer when he had to nail boards over the broken windows. Sure, he may have hit his fingers more than a few times, and sure, he may have cried every single time, but that was the _least_ of his problems at the moment.

No, the biggest problem he had _right now_ was that he was tied to a chair with a bag over his head.

What only felt like an hour before, he had simply been walking throughout the city to meet his dealer yet again. Instead of the usual blue bunny, though, there was an unfamiliar group in the alley who seemed like they had been waiting. As they all looked at him at once, he backed up, deciding he must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. He didn’t get far, however, as he felt someone standing behind him. He turned around cautiously, and saw a large reptilian monster towering over him. He looked around, and realized he was surrounded. Some kind of sweet-smelling wet cloth was shoved against his nose from behind, and after a few moments of struggling, he went weak at the knees and collapsed.

And then he woke up where he was now. Wherever that was, he couldn’t tell, because he couldn’t see passed what he assumed was the bag over his head. He strained his arms against the ropes that were binding them behind him, but to no avail. He tried moving the chair itself, but it must have been bolted to the floor. All he knew for absolute certain at this very moment was that his head felt like it was going to split in half.

Suddenly, the bag was ripped off so roughly that Papyrus thought his head would go with it. He squinted against the light that _certainly_ didn’t help his headache in the slightest, but attempted to recollect himself and take in his surroundings. The room he was in was small, cold, and almost completely empty, save for himself and a table just out of his reach, all kinds of weapons laying out across it’s surface. The walls were blank, and the windows were covered. Wherever he was, he figured it was abandoned and used solely for… He decided he didn’t want to think of the purpose of those weapons. He noticed that there were two other monsters in the room, neither of whom he recognised.

“Alright, Skinny Bitch,” the one on his left spoke, voice deep and gruff. “You’ve got some of the most money out of quite a bit of the monster species.”

His partner, the one on Papyrus’s right, grabbed a blowtorch from the table.

“Mind telling us where we can find it?” The first one spoke, no emotion in his eye.

 

He…

 

P-Papyrus... didn’t…

 

* * *

 

Slim felt a small hand on his shoulder, and whipped his head up from where he was staring at his wrist, rubbing it subconsciously as he talked. He saw Razz looking at him with some form of _pity,_ and moved himself further down the couch, out of his brother’s reach. He noticed he was shaking just a little bit, but ignored it. After taking a _long_ drag from the joint in his hand, he continued on.

 

* * *

 

 

Papyrus didn’t want to give away his money. Then again, while most monsters’ financials were locked away in a safe hidden somewhere in the house, very few had the digital system that had been introduced after the barrier went down. And, to his relief, the skeleton just happened to have both.

He didn’t realize just how scared he actually _was,_ though, until he found that he couldn’t answer the question. He couldn’t get himself to talk _at all._ It felt like something was lodged in his throat, keeping him from speaking. He simply stared at the two monsters with wide eyes as his mouth spoke soundless words.

“Not gonna talk, eh?” The man to his left asked. “That’s fine, we can get it outta ya one way or another.”

He nodded to his partner, who lit the blowtorch.

Another monster he hadn’t seen before came up from behind him and began untying his arms.

Before he had the chance to even _try_ to defend himself with his now-unbound arms, something metallic pressed against the back of his skull. He froze.

The monster to his right held his arm outstretched with a firm grasp, while the one who had previously spoken held the other back and away. No matter how much he strained against them, he couldn’t move at all. Not to mention, what he assumed was a gun to the back of his head made it kinda difficult to even _want_ to squirm.

 

Time moved in slow motion as the flame from the blowtorch got ever closer to his outstretched arm.

 

* * *

 

“Okay, how about we skip this part?” Razz asked, voice tinted with concern as he tried to figure out how the _hell_ to comfort his now-trembling little brother.

“I-i-if I skip it,” Slim protested, voice shaking, “you w-won’t.. You won’t know- Y-you won’t _underst-stand-”_

“I understand already,” he assured. God, he _really_ didn’t know what to do. He’d never exactly been in this kind of situation before. “Not to mention, it’s for the best. I don’t think... I don’t think you can even handle talking about it yet. And that’s perfectly fine. I understand, Papyrus, I promise.”

Slim took a few minutes to gain control of his breathing, and finally agreed to skip that particular experience.

 

* * *

 

Papyrus’s captors had decided to resort to ransom after a week of keeping him locked up.

 

The problem was, though, that no one was willing to pay for it.

 

They had sent a letter to Undyne, the royal scientist. She had sent a letter back, stating that “Whatever trouble Sticks got himself into, he can pay for it his damn _self.”_

They had sent a letter to his own home, for Sans. There had been no response.

They had even sent a letter to Chara, the savior of monsters, as well as Toriel’s adoptive child, due to them having been seen interacting with each other in the past. Despite the teen’s kindness, they had to decline, stating in a letter that seemed suspiciously like it was written by the queen, that “Papyrus’s troubles are none of my concern. While I would still like to help, I am afraid my funds must be spent on more important duties, such as making sure there is not a second war between humans and monsters, and several meetings with several world leaders. My dearest apologies.”

 

Somehow, that apology seemed rather fake.

 

Anyhow, the kidnappers grew irritated.

“No one’s gonna pay up, boss,” Papyrus heard one of them complain from outside the room. “Why don’t we just kill ‘im already?”

“He could still be valuable,” another monster, whom he assumed was the “boss,” said as he walked into the room. He didn’t seem to care that the skeleton was awake, as he continued talking while glaring at him. “I know a pimp. We could always sell him and make money off of _that.”_

At that, Papyrus found himself grow horrified, even in his sleep-deprived state. No. _Fuck_ no. That couldn’t happen. He began struggling desperately against his restraints, and the boss smirked.

“Oh, don’t like the thought of becoming a manwhore, hmm?” The man said. The skeleton shook his head vigorously, his eyes desperate.

The man walked over to him and punched him _hard_ in the face.

“Well then,” he took a hold of his shirt collar, lifting him up a few inches, “how about you tell us where to get some money?”

Papyrus still couldn’t speak, he needed to speak, _why the hell couldn’t he talk-_

“Fine,” the other monster said after a few seconds too long of staring intensely into the skeleton’s fear-filled eyes. He let go of the shirt, and Papyrus realized his nose was bleeding from the blow. The boss began walking away, pushing the other monster he had been talking to just moments ago to the side. “I’ll be calling that pimp. Valerie, you make sure the zombie doesn’t try any shit.”

As he opened the door, the monster who Papyrus assumed was “Valerie” turned to look at him.

No, no, no, _no,_ _no, no,_ ** _no, no_** _-_

“I can pay the money!” The skeleton finally said, surprising himself. The boss froze in the doorway.

“What was that?” He asked, turning to look at him.

“I-... I can pay. Th-the ransom. I have the money,” he explained. He felt like he was going to puke as blood dripped into his mouth.

The boss grinned.

 

His plan had worked, after all.

 

* * *

 

“I gave them thirty-thousand dollars,” Slim said, voice still quite shaky. “I thought they would’ve wanted more, b-but… That was enough to satisfy them, I guess.”

“Thirty _thousand?!”_ Razz said, his voice a mixture of bewilderment and complete fury. “Papyrus, holy shit!”

“Well what else was I supposed to do, let them make me into a fucking sex slave?!” Slim asked, frustration in his voice.  “I-I didn’t exactly have any other choices!”

“ _That’s_ not what I’m mad about!” Razz said. “Those sick _fucks,_ they-- They _fucking-”_

He couldn’t find the right way to go on.

“Stop, Sans. Please, just..” Slim cut him off, taking a very deep breath. “Just let me keep talking, I’m not done yet.”

Despite his better judgement, Razz let his brother continue on.

 

* * *

 

After finally getting himself freed, no thanks to _literally anyone else,_ Papyrus found out some more pretty bad news.

Chara Dreemurr, the ambassador for all monsters, had been assassinated only a few days prior to the skeleton’s release.

According to NTT News, the human had been leaving a public speaking event when gunshots were heard, and they fell to the ground. The assassin had been caught by now, and was revealed to be another human who believed monsters belonged underground. The queen herself took the woman’s life in cold blood, shattering the soul afterward.

In unrelated news, there were rumors that the two species were on the brink of a second war.

 

So, that was fun.

 

* * *

 

One year and 345 days after Sans’s vanishing.

 

Papyrus, after being assaulted in his _own damn living room_ far too many times, had been living in the basement for nearly ten months now. He brought all the necessities. Food, water, drugs, and a bag to keep them all in in case he needed to get outta there _fast._

He had chewed on the end of a bottle of maple syrup as he stared around the room. It was a mess, no doubt, but the living conditions were certainly much better _here_ than they were in the main house. He had stared at the machine, which he’d been using the covering blanket of as a blanket to wrap himself with at night. It was pretty banged up, for reasons he had no clue of, and he couldn’t help but wonder why. But he was much more curious about what it _did._ What was it’s purpose?

 

He wondered if Undyne’s lab had any answers.

 

And you know what? Who cared if he got caught. It’s not like there’d be anyone who would miss him.

 

And, before he had even begun to think of how things could be even worse with the threat of another war, he made his way to the lab.

 

So far, things had worked out fine. He hadn’t even been jumped on his way there! He also just happened to spot Undyne in a cafe with her girlfriend, so he knew the lab was empty. He never thought he’d feel so giddy and excited, as well as extremely fearful and anxious, all at the same time, but as he walked through the lab, got into the elevator, and rode down? He felt more alive than when he did drugs for the first time.

He stepped out of the elevator, and looked around the true laboratory. It was grey and cold, and as he walked down the hallway, his footsteps echoed. He went into the first room he saw, rummaging through the file cabinets and desks. He pulled out papers, deemed them unimportant, and tossed them onto the floor behind him. He emptied almost every drawer there was, and when he got to the last one, his hope that his answers would be in it were rather low.

 

It was a good thing he looked anyway.

 

As he sorted through the papers, throwing the useless ones behind him, he came across a set of blueprints.

The machine in his basement was printed onto them.

To the side of the illustration, some strange symbols. He didn’t know _how_ he could read them, but he could.

 

“Journey across time and space.”

 

At the top, though, was something that was more appealing to him than anything else in the entire world.

 

“ESCAPE.”

 

He carefully folded the prints up, and walked out of the room. He was about to leave the lab altogether, when some light caught his eye.

 

The holding cells.

 

As a form of punishment, Queen Toriel would send criminal monsters to the lab to get experimented on. Many of those monsters ended up incredibly horrifying, or dead.

And that’s what would happen to these monsters, if Papyrus didn’t do anything.

 

He didn’t even know what came over him, _why_ he felt such a strong need to save them from such _torture,_ but he found himself walking toward the cells.

The monsters inside stared at him with wide eyes, confusion and fear filling their expressions.

 

He stared at the keypad, and began to punch in some words.

**B A T M A N**

**_Access Denied._ **

**M A R V E L**

**_Access Denied._ **  

**F U C K Y O**

**_Access Denied._ **  

He thought for a second. 

**A L P H Y S**

**_Access Granted!_ **  

Duh.

 

The prisoners kept staring at him as he opened the cell door.

“Come on, get outta here!” He said, gesturing towards the opening. “You can be free if you just _run!_ Undyne isn’t here right now, she-”

“Papyrus?” Undyne’s voice said.

He froze.

 

_Fuck._

 

* * *

 

“And why have you brought this skeleton before me?” Queen Toriel asked, glaring down from where she sat upon her throne. In front of her were three monsters. Undyne, who had been furious after discovering the skeleton in question trying to free her test subjects, Alphys, who was called to make sure the sentence went without trouble, and Papyrus, the man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“Your majesty,” Undyne began, taking a bow, “I found this skeleton attempting to free my test subjects from their holding cells. I also found a huge mess in my office, and am assuming that he was attempting to steal some notes of mine aswell. With the threat of an upcoming war, this is extremely dangerous. For all we know, he could be sending our information and closest secrets to the human officials.”

“I’m not-”

“No one will speak unless spoken to,” the queen interrupted sternly, and Papyrus closed his mouth with a snap. “Alphys, what are your readings on the situation? You were on a.. ‘Date’ with Undyne beforehand, correct?”

“Correct, your majesty,” the royal guardsman answered, taking a bow of her own. “I was upstairs in the lab when she brought him up. She only went down to look for something she lost.”

“I see,” Toriel said. She glared at Papyrus for a few seconds, causing him to squirm under her piercing gaze. Suddenly, two fiery attacks smashed into his shin, causing him to fall into a kneel. “All citizens and suspects for crime are expected to kneel before royalty.”

He stared at the ground. Why hadn’t he even _thought_ to kneel? That single move could have worsened his sentence by a _lot._ As the queen continued, he felt like he was gonna be sick.

“Due to the accusations of freeing prisoners, stealing classified information, and trespassing on royal property,” she spoke, “I deem you guilty. Your sentence would _normally_ be quite a few years in jail, or in hard labour.”

She paused.

“But… Because of the threat of an upcoming war, as well as being disrespectful of my presence…”

Another pause, as if she was thinking.

 

“I sentence you to public execution.”

 

Papyrus’s stomach dropped, and he nearly fainted.

 

“You have two days to prepare yourself. There will be guards stationed around your house, and you will not be permitted to leave at any time. If you have any visitors, a guard must be in the room with you at all times. If you attempt to flee, I assure you that you will not get far.”

The world was spinning. He was going to _die._ He could barely even absorb what he was hearing.

“Alphys, mark him as a criminal.”

Oh no. Oh no. Oh fucking _no._ This was gonna hurt.

A criminal’s marking was _some_ kind of blow to the face. Done with an axe. It was done so that, if a criminal ever tried to escape, they would be easy to find because there was a big-ass cut on their face. And Papyrus was about to get one of those. And he was also going to _die_ in _two days._

Alphys had Undyne turn him green so that he would stay still, and raised her axe.

 

His screams echoed throughout the castle.

 

* * *

 

“You said you got that from a _gang!”_ Razz exclaimed, hardly able to contain his horror.

“The royal guards kind of a gang, isn't it?” Slim asked.

Razz didn’t respond.

 

* * *

 

Papyrus, now with bandages over his eye, glared at the shadows through his window from where he stood outside his room.

If he wanted to get to his machine, there was no possible way he could get passed those royal guardsmen.

 

Unless he teleported.

He hated doing it, but he was desperate.

He concentrated on his magic, closed his eyes, and thought really _, really_ hard about being in the basement.

When he opened them back up, he wasn’t standing outside of his room anymore, and the machine was just across the room from where he stood.

 

He nearly shouted in joy that it worked, even though it left shivers going through his bones. He grabbed the blueprints out of his jacket, and examined them. He began working on fixing the machine almost immediately, occasionally teleporting to the dump to look for supplies. He didn’t know if he could fix it in only two days, but the looming threat of death was enough to keep him motivated. He worked non-stop, only pausing for short naps. When he heard the guards randomly search his house, he would shortcut back to the living room and act like nothing was up.

 

And when the time came for his execution, he decided now was the only chance he would get to see if it _worked._ It... _was_ his only chance. He had to make it count.

 

He heard the guards searching for him, yelling that it was time, as he grabbed his bag and climbed into the machine. He punched some random coordinates into the keypad, shut the door tight, and hoped that it would warm up faster as he heard the guards getting closer.

He heard footsteps approaching the basement.

 

**_WARMING UP! DO NOT EXIT!_ **

**_30% DONE_ **

 

He heard yelling outside the door.

 

**_WARMING UP! DO NOT EXIT!_ **

**_56% DONE_ **

 

He heard pounding against the door. Luckily, he had moved some heavy furniture in front of it, so that it couldn’t be easily moved. That didn’t make him any less scared, though.

 

**_WARMING UP! DO NOT EXIT!_ **

**_72% DONE_ **

 

More pounding, now mixed with yelling. He curled into himself at the loud sounds, but kept his eyes glued onto the screen in front of him,

 

**_WARMING UP! DO NOT EXIT!_ **

**_90% DONE_ **

 

He heard the door give in, and people step inside.

 

**_WARMUP FINISHED!_ **

**_100% DONE_ **

 

He slammed his hand onto the activation button as soon as he read the words.

Only a second later, everything was enveloped in a bright light.

There was a loud **_BANG_ ** that rattled his bones to the core.

 

He stared at the screen.

It had gone black.

The machine was broken yet again.

 

Cautiously, he stepped out of it. He didn’t see anyone, but he wasn’t completely convinced. He walked a few feet in front of the machine, turned his back to the door, and looked around the room. It was different from where he previously was, without a doubt.

He pulled his hood up, not wanting to feel the air on the new crack of his skull. The atmosphere was… different. It felt like the air was cleaner, more loose.

He heard the door open, and froze completely. His posture stiffened as he began to shake.

He stared ahead of himself, waiting for the guards to grab him and kill him _right there-_

 

“Uh… hiya there,” Sans’s voice spoke.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My google history now consists of:
> 
> "How long does it take for chloroform to knock someone out" (It's about 5 mins btw, i just decided to use movie logic for this whoops)  
> *several kidnapping searches/websites*  
> "How hard is it to burn bone"  
> "How easily can an axe go through a skull"  
> also lots of drug research beforehand; i now know how to roll a joint without ever seeing a single weed in all 13 years of my life
> 
> also if i messed anything up with this lemme know how to fix it; i obviously haven't been in any of these situations before, and I simply made it all up in my head. The fact that i had pretty much no outside influence to think this up is actually prob really concerning-
> 
> also also: i was originally gonna write the entire kidnap scene but it got too bad even for me so i skipped it haha yay


	6. Pap Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slim gets a pep talk. Sure, it starts with him jumping halfway across the couch in fear, but it's a pep talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit, a chapter that isn't named after a quote for once, the world is gonna end due to this imbalance of nature
> 
> i also couldn't find a good quote for it but shhhh
> 
> it was very nearly going to be named "'cause i'm short as fuck" but that sounds Very Stupid™

Razz tried to say something, but couldn’t think of what. All he could do was stare at his brother’s slumped figure and think of everything he had just been told.

For starters, Chara, the human who had taught him that murder might not always be the answer, had been assassinated.

His little brother would have been _dead_ by now, had he not fixed that machine.

Alphys, the closest thing to a friend he could’ve had, would have been holding the axe high. 

And yet, Razz had been living a life of luxury. He had been _happy,_ comfortable with his new life, while his brother went through hell. He hadn’t even _thought_ of what could have happened, he hadn’t thought that his brother could have died while he was gone, hadn’t thought of all the gangs that wanted something from him. Sure, Slim was a recurring thought in his mind, but it was a simple “oh, I wonder what happened to him,” kind of thought. It had kept him awake only a few nights in the past two years, and he felt awful for it. 

He heard the other sniff.

Or maybe that was him?

Either way, one or _both_ of them were crying. 

As Razz scooted over, awkwardly wrapped his arms around his brother’s shaking torso, and closed his eyes, the other stiffened up. Then, Slim relaxed, just a little bit.

He felt a pair of arms wrap around him, and the taller of the two hugged him close as the sound of soft whimpering filled the air. He couldn’t tell who it was coming from.

“I w-was,” Slim sniveled, “so scared, S-Sans.”

“I know, Papyrus,” Razz said back.

“I-I,” he stuttered, “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again.”

Razz hesitated.

“I’m so sorry,” he said, “that I couldn’t be there for you.”

 

* * *

 

Rus walked back toward the group gathered in front of the Swapfell house, putting his phone back into his pocket.

“FRISK IS OKAY!” He assured. The other skeletons only looked a small bit more relieved.

“What about _our_ Frisk, though?” Red asked, his voice buried in worry that he couldn’t even _dream_ to hide. “Our world isn’t exactly much better than _theirs_.”

“WHAT IF THEY GOT HURT?” Fell began, his voice tinged with concern as well. “WHAT IF, IN OUR ABSENCE, THEY GOT ASSASSINATED, KIDNAPPED, TORTURED, WHO KNOWS? THEY COULD BE _DEAD,_ AND WE WOULDN’T EVEN-”

“STOP THINKING LIKE THAT!” Rus interrupted. He was never _quite_ sure how to comfort his other selves when they began worrying about their world, but he would always do his best to keep their hopes up. “THEY’RE PROBABLY PERFECTLY FINE, I PROMISE!”

“ _Probably,”_ Red echoed, leaning further back onto the front door. “They could also _probably_ be fucking _dead.”_

“WELL-”

“Oh no, what about _our_ Chara?” Blue suddenly asked, uncharacteristically panicked.

“They, uh, can hold off on their own, bro,” Stretch assured to the best of his ability, despite seemingly having his own doubts. “They’re a tough kid.”

“But if they-”

“No one would hurt them.”

A pause in conversation showed that no one knew what to do about the situation.

After some thinking, Blue decided to attempt to change the topic.

“So,” he said, shifting his weight between his feet a few times, “those criminal markings seem pretty… intense.”

“Yeah,” Red agreed. “They used to be given with a spear, but since my bro became captain, criminals’ve just been gettin’ _boned_ instead.”

“THAT WAS _SO BAD_ ,” Fell groaned. “I THINK _YOU_ SHOULD GET ONE JUST FOR MAKING ME DIE INSIDE.”

“Wait, but I thought you already _had_ one?” Blue asked, raising a brow. Red looked at him like he said something crazy.

“...what?” Red asked back.

“Well I mean, not to be rude or anything!!” He said, hoping he hadn’t offended the other. “I just noticed that you had a crack on the same eye as Slim, so I figured..”

“It’s not a criminal mark,” he said, stiffening up. “I got it from-” He cast his eyes quickly toward his brother, then at the ground, before they went dark. “I got it from somethin’ else.”

Fell seemed to curl into himself, stiffening as well.

 

The air was tense yet again, and Blue immediately regretted trying to break the silence at all.

 

“...What are Slim and Razz doing now?” Stretch asked suddenly. Red looked through the old-fashioned key hole.

“Holy shit, _what,”_ he said, surprised at whatever it was he saw.

“OH NO, THEY AREN’T FIGHTING AGAIN, ARE THEY?” Rus asked, concerned at the other’s reaction.

“No, which is what I’m surprised about, actually,” Red answered. “They’re fuckin’ _hugging._ Prolly’ cryin, too.”

“WAIT, REALLY?” Fell asked, seeming just as surprised. “THEY _ARE_ FELLVERSE MONSTERS, RIGHT??”

His question couldn’t be answered before the sound of a small explosion went off in the Undertale basement, followed by a short string of curses.

“WHAT IN THE WORLD…?” Rus murmured under his breath. He was only made _more_ confused when he saw his brother walk out, go into the house, come back out with a fire extinguisher, and leave back into the basement. His clothes were slightly singed, and he had goggles sitting atop his head.  “WAIT, IS HE SCIENCE-ING AGAIN?”

“Oh yeah,” Stretch responded, “Earlier while we were talking to Slim, he pretty much abandoned us to go look for blueprints or some shit. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s been working on that machine for a few hours now.”

“Why’s he so obsessed with fixing it?” Blue asked. “Didn’t he try really hard every time someone showed up?”

Everyone, including the _lazies, who should know this darnit,_ looked at Rus, as if his brother told him things.

“AH, I’M NOT REALLY SURE ABOUT THAT,” Rus said. “HE NEVER REALLY TELLS ME ANYTHING. ALL I CAN GUESS IS THAT HE _REALLY_ WANTS TO HELP YOU GET HOME?? BUT HE ALSO SAID HE ACTUALLY HAS NO CLUE WHAT IT DOES, BUT IT’S... IMPORTANT TO HIM SOMEHOW?? THAT’S LITERALLY ALL I KNOW.”

They all seemed like that wasn’t the answer they were looking for.

Suddenly, the door opened. Red, who had been leaning against it the whole time, fell backward, only giving a small sound as he went. Razz stood over him, glaring.

“What the hell,” he said, staring at the crowd gathered around the door.

“RAZZ! HI!” Rus exclaimed as Red got up. “DON’T MIND US!”

“Why are you all here?” He asked, his tone suspicious. If he _had_ been crying previously like Red had said, he was good at acting like he wasn’t. Still, there was a faint purple blush on his cheeks that betrayed his act.

“WE WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU AND SLIM DIDN’T KILL EACH OTHER,” Fell explained before Rus could try to find a better, less _rude_ reasoning.”CONSIDERING YOU TRIED TO ATTACK LITERALLY EVERYONE WHEN YOU FIRST GOT HERE, I THINK IT’S REASONABLE.”

“Don’t act like you didn’t do the same thing, bro,” Red pointed out.

“THERE WERE LESS PEOPLE TO ATTACK!” The other reasoned. “NOT TO MENTION, I DIDN’T _TRY_ TO, I _DID._ THERE’S A DIFFERENCE.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Ok, stop,” Razz interrupted before the bickering escalated. “My brother and I aren’t going to fight, so you can _leave_ now. We’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Blue asked. “If you need anything, we can-”

“We only need to adjust,” Razz assured. “Now shoo. _Or_ I can always weaponize the coatrack again.”

They agreed to flee to Rus’s house, for fear of past experiences being repeated.

 

* * *

 

“I WISH I COULD HELP MORE!” Rus said, pacing around the living room. “JUST _NOT_ DOING ANYTHING IS MAKING ME GO CRAZY!”

“I think we just gotta leave ‘em be,” Stretch suggested. “Yeah, there’s reason to be worried, but what can we really do about it?”

“We can do _so much_ about it!!” Blue answered. He was pacing around as well. “For starters, we could try _actually making him feel welcome._ We could ask Razz what he likes, and surprise him! We could-”

 

Blue and Rus both stopped in their tracks, gasping. It seemed they both had the same idea.

 

“WE COULD THROW A _WELCOMING PARTY!!!”_ They said in unison.

“WE COULD INVITE ALPHYS, UNDYNE, FRISK, TORIEL, ASGORE, EVERYONE!!!” Rus proposed.

“We could decorate the whole street!!!” Blue mused.

“WE COULD HAVE A COOKOUT!!”

“We can craft stuff!!”

“WE-”

“Woah, woah, hold up,” Red interrupted, waving his hands. “It’s a good idea… ‘Least if it was for someone else, I mean. Slim doesn’t seem like the kinda guy to _like_ crowds.”

Both the most passionate skeletons slumped.

“I guess you have a point,” Blue murmured.

“WAIT, DUH!” Rus exclaimed, straightening his figure. “RED, YOU’RE PROBABLY THE MOST LIKE HIM. WHAT DO _YOU_ THINK WE SHOULD DO??”

Red froze, having not expected to be put on the spot. All he could think of was how _he_ was made to “feel welcome,” which was only having to live with the classic brothers for months. It was never his favorite, to say the least. Then again, he wasn’t quite sure what he would have _preferred_ at the time _._

“I, uh…” He hesitated, trying to think of _something._ “We could… Go.. to, um, Grillby’s? Maybe?”

The two stared at him for a moment, considering it.

“Actually, that’s..” Blue paused. “..That’s a pretty good idea!!”

“YEAH!” Rus agreed. “WHY DIDN’T _WE_ THINK OF THAT? HE’S A LAZY, OF _COURSE_ GRILLBY’S WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA!!”

“ARE YOU SURE?” Fell spoke up, doubt in his voice. “THE LAST TIME WE WENT THERE, I WAS FORCED TO DRIVE EVERYONE HOME. BY THE WAY, YOU STILL OWE ME $40, STRETCH.”

“Why do I owe you that again?” Asked the mentioned. “I might’ve forgot.”

“BECAUSE YOU PUKED _ALL OVER_ THE BACK SEAT!!” He answered. From the sound of his voice, he was still _quite_ peeved about having to clean it all up himself, due to the fact that everyone else was shitfaced at the time.

“THAT ACTUALLY REMINDS ME, CINNAMON!” Rus piped up. Of course, Fell simply _talking_ reminded him of what he meant to say, as it actually had nothing to do with his alcohol intake on that particular weekend. “YOU NEED TO APOLOGIZE TO SLIM FOR THREATENING TO SNAP HIS NECK THIS MORNING!”

“ABSOLUTELY NOT,” Fell immediately protested. “MY REPUTATION WOULD BE RUINED!”

“Your ‘edgy teenager’ rep won’t go anywhere, pal,” Red said. “Ya don’t gotta worry about that.”

“YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN, DAMMIT!” He responded. “BESIDES, I OBVIOUSLY WOULDN’T _ACTUALLY_ KILL HIM, YOU KNOW THAT.”

“BUT _HE_ DOESN’T,” Rus countered. “WE ALL HEARD HIS STORY. IF WE WANT HIM TO FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE HERE, WE HAVE TO START WITH HIM _NOT_ FEELING LIKE HE’LL DIE JUST FOR MESSING UP! HE’S ALREADY FELT THAT ENOUGH!!”

“WE HAVE TO FIND A DIFFERENT WAY TO DO THAT, THEN,” Fell insisted. “BECAUSE LIKE HELL I’M GOING TO APOLOGIZE FOR _ANYTHING.”_

 

* * *

 

Fell rung the doorbell, his expression quite unhappy. There was always that usual _wait_ he had to go through. Why couldn’t Razz just answer like a _normal_ person?

Thirty seconds went by.

Then, a minute.

A minute and thirty seconds.

He tapped his foot impatiently, arms crossed as he glared at the door. He _knew_ the others were watching him, otherwise he would have walked away by now.

Two minutes passed.

 _Finally,_ it opened. Razz stared up at him, acting as if he hadn’t purposefully made him wait for far too long.

“What do _you_ want, some black eyeshadow or something?” The shorter of the two asked, a mocking tone in his voice. Fell could hardly hold himself back from snapping a witty retort of his own, but the feeling of everyone else’s gazes on his back made it easier. Not to mention, Rus was _much_ better at setting traps than he was. If he didn’t do this, he’d likely be japed non-stop until he complied.

“CUT THE CRAP,” he said, leering at the other. “I WISH TO TALK TO SLIM.”

“Oh, really?” He looked doubtful. “I think you’re the _last_ person he wants to talk to. And, honestly? I don’t think it would even be _safe_ to leave you alone with him anyway.”

“WELP, ALRIGHT THEN!” Fell said, somehow _happy_ to be denied entrance. “GUESS I’LL GO, SINCE I CAN’T TALK TO HIM! BYE!”

He turned on his heel and attempted to sprint away. Before he could get far, though, his soul was turned blue, and he was forced right back to the front door. He cursed under his breath.

“What the…?” Razz murmured, looking at him like he had just started doing the chicken dance. “Wait, the other’s put you up to this, didn’t they?”

“I-UH-” He tripped over his words. “O-OF COURSE _NOT!!_ I CAME HERE ON MY _OWN,_ NO ONE MADE ME COME HERE!!!”

“So why did you come here, then?” He leaned against the doorframe, smirking as if he already knew. “What is it you plan on talking to my brother about?”

“SIMPLY WHAT.. HAPPENED THIS MORNING,” he hesitated. He could _not_ admit that he was here to… Ugh, he didn’t even want to _think_ of what he had to do.

“Oh, you mean how you threatened him?” The shit-eating grin on Razz’s face made Fell want to punch him. “What about it?”

His pride kept him from responding. He simply stood there, figure stiff and fists clenched as he tried not to pick the other up and throw him like a football into the _fucking sun._

“ALRIGHT, STOP THE TEASING,” Rus suddenly said, randomly appearing next to him, making him jump. “WE’RE JUST TRYING TO HELP SLIM FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE HERE! WE THINK THIS WOULD BE A GOOD START!”

While Razz still seemed quite amused, he _finally_ wiped away that stupid smile.

“It was fun while it lasted, I guess,” he shrugged. “In all seriousness, though, I really don’t think leaving my little brother alone with him would be a good idea, _especially_ with all that he’s been through recently.”

“YOU DON’T HAVE TO LEAVE THEM COMPLETELY ALONE, DON’T WORRY!” Rus assured. “WE PLAN ON WAITING OUT HERE, JUST LIKE WE DID EARLIER! IT’LL BE EASY TO MAKE SURE A FIGHT DOESN’T START, I PROMISE!”

He seemed to think it over, furrowing his brow. After a few seconds of weighing the options, he sighed.

“Alright, fine,” he agreed, albeit reluctantly. “I’ll go get him.”

As he closed the door and left to get his brother, he left Fell and Rus there waiting. Rus went back to his hiding place, wherever the hell that _was,_ and left Fell with his thoughts.

Fell thought of Razz’s genuinely worried look, how he obviously wanted his brother to be okay, and frowned.

He couldn’t help but be envious. 

Before he could fully question his thoughts, the door opened and revealed Razz and Slim standing behind it. Razz gave him a stern, yet subtle glare as he walked passed and down the street, not saying a word. He looked back up at Slim.

Dammit. Even in heels, Fell only reached approximately the other skeleton’s eye level. He didn’t realize he had grimaced at the realization until the other shrunk back a bit, obviously very cautious. He cleared his throat.

“MAY I COME INSIDE?” He asked. Slim seemed to only just realize that he was blocking the way, and hurriedly stepped to the side. As he entered, Fell could tell that the taller was staring at him, with not quite a wide eye, but wide enough to tell that he was intimidated. He took a seat on the couch, and motioned for the other to sit next to him. As he moved, Fell could tell that Slim was going to be… hard to talk to. His movements were stiff and rigid, as if he was scared he would be attacked any second, and he sat about a foot away from where the shorter had originally patted his hand on the couch. Fell also noticed that his hood was up, blocking him from seeing the entirety of the scar. Due to his royal guard training, just seeing the criminal marking at all made him itch to attack, but he managed to keep his magic in check.

“I’M JUST GONNA GET TO THE POINT,” he began. Slim turned his head towards him, but seemed to be avoiding eye contact. He helped him out by looking ahead of himself and staring a a wall instead. “I’M…”

 

Ugh. _This_ was the hard part.

“UH.”

He could feel his dignity disappearing into thin air.

“A-ABOUT THIS MORNING…”

Royal guards do not apologize. If you think a royal guard has done something wrong, _you_ are wrong. _Especially_ when the guard is the _captain._ Even after four years of being separated from the guard itself, the rule had been burned into his brain so much that he still lived by it. He didn’t _want_ to, of course, but he couldn’t help it. _Plenty_ of Blue and Rus’s “nice” classes proved that much.

The captain of the royal guard _must_ maintain his dignity. Any sign of regret is a sign of weakness.

“WHEN I… THREATENED YOU…”

But he _wasn’t_ a royal guard anymore. _No one_ thought of him as their captain.

“I…”

 _Fuck_ his dignity. It was practically nonexistent at this point.

“UGH, WHY IS THIS SO _FUCKING HARD?”_ He suddenly yelled, causing Slim to flinch. “I’M _SORRY,_ OK? I DIDN’T THINK YOU WOULD TAKE IT SERIOUSLY, BECAUSE _NO ONE_ TAKES ME SERIOUSLY ANYMORE, AND I WANT TO TELL YOU THAT I DIDN’T ACTUALLY MEAN IT. I’M PASSED THE DAYS OF KILLING SOMEONE BECAUSE THEY OFFENDED ME, SO I _WON’T_ DUST YOU JUST FOR CALLING ME SOME STUPID NICKNAME! OK? IS THAT UNDERSTANDABLE?!”

He finally looked at the other, having been looking ahead of him the entire time. Slim had backed up quite a bit at his sudden outburst, staring at him with a now fully-widened socket. When realizing Fell had asked a question, he nodded quickly. Fell only let out an exasperated groan as he put his head in his hands. In apologizing, he had only made the taller _more_ scared of him than before, no doubt.

“I DIDN’T MEAN TO YELL,” he added, voice muffled in his gloves. “I’M JUST NOT USED TO THIS KIND OF THING. AT _ALL.”_

“I-it’s-” Slim finally spoke, his voice timid. “It’s fine.”

 

* * *

 

“This isn’t _working,”_ Razz growled. “He’s only making him _more_ scared! He apologised, and it didn’t work, so let’s _separate_ them already, God dammit!”

“Not yet!” Blue insisted. “This is just _really_ difficult for Fell, you know how it is!”

“I think they’re actually talking,” Red said, interrupting the conversation before Razz could protest. “Slim’s jaw is moving, at least. He’s too quiet for me to make out.”

“Why are _you_ the visual interpreter, again?” Razz asked.

“‘Cause I’m short as fuck.”

Razz rolled his eyes. Sure, Red was the shortest out of all the skeletons, but he wanted to be able to see his brother, dammit. So _what_ if he had to lean down further than what was really comfortable to see through the lock? If Slim looked scared, he was willing to break the door down if he had to.

Their relationship was weird like that.

 

* * *

 

“I.. th-think it’s good enough that.. That you managed to say it a-at all, actually,” Slim pointed out. “Loud stuff j-just kinda… freaks me out.”

“IT’S VERY HARD FOR ME TO NOT BE LOUD,” Fell said, almost apologetically.

“I-I get that,” he said. “I’m just the o-opposite.”

 

They sat there for a few seconds, avoiding eye contact as usual.

 

“YOU…” Fell began, but hesitated. ‘YOU’RE WELCOME HERE, YOU KNOW. YOU’VE HAD A SHITTY TWO YEARS, AND CONSIDERING THE FACT THAT YOU REMIND ME OF MY BROTHER, WE LIKELY WON’T GET ALONG VERY WELL IN THE FUTURE, BUT YOU DON’T NEED TO FEEL TOO OUT OF PLACE. EVERYONE HERE HAD QUITE THE DIFFICULT FIRST DAY, FIRST WEEK, HELL, EVEN FIRST _YEAR._ SO IF YOU NEED TO VENT, YOU CAN LITERALLY TALK TO _ANYONE._ OTHER THAN COMIC AND RUS, I MEAN. YOU _CAN_ VENT TO THEM, I GUESS, BUT THEY WON’T BE ABLE TO RELATE AS WELL AS ANYONE ELSE.”

“Rus, uh,” Slim said, “offered to t-talk.”

“WELL THEN, TAKE THE CHANCE,” he responded. “HE _REALLY_ HELPED ME FOR THE FIRST FEW YEARS. AND _DON’T_ IGNORE HIS TEXTS. EVER. HE _WILL_ KEEP SENDING MESSAGES, AND HE’LL DO IT WITHOUT SHAME.”

He had a slight feeling of satisfaction as the other laughed, a very quiet, short laugh, but a laugh nonetheless.

 

* * *

 

Nearly ten minutes after he had already apologised, Fell finally walked out of the house.

 

“SO,” he began, gazing throughout the small crowd, “WHEN ARE WE GOING TO GRILLBY’S?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> K so i made fell a huge dick in this one but i like writing dicks so
> 
> Also i think i find it a bit too enjoyable to write fellverse characters; it's like really fun lmao
> 
> ALSO ALSO,, thank you all for your comments, they're helping me so much! I'll be honest, if it weren't for you all, I very likely would have given up on this story by now. I can't properly state my gratitude by replying to each and every one, because honestly the words "Thank you" are starting to sound meaningless at this point, so please just know that I appreciate you all so freaking much!!! I'm repeating myself but seriously!! I love you people!!!!!!!!
> 
> ALSO ALSO ALSO,,,,,, I feel like i need to rewrite this chapter because i feel like it's not?? very good?? idk help me out here please


	7. Kinky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slim causes more trouble than anticipated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like this is getting progressively worse as it goes on hoo boy

A week after Slim’s appearance, he began to adjust. Slowly, of course, but he was adjusting nonetheless.

While Rus got ready to meet up with the others and go to Grillby’s, Comic voiced his concerns about him constantly texting the tallest skeleton.

“HE’S NOT BAD, SANS,” Rus insisted. “HE JUST COMES FROM A BAD _PLACE._ YOU KNOW HOW IT IS WITH FELLVERSE MONSTERS!”

“Yeah, I know,” Comic responded, still not convinced. “I’m just sayin’, he doesn’t seem like the best person you could be spendin’ your time on.”

“YOU’VE BEEN SAYING THE SAME THING ABOUT CINNAMON FOR THE PAST FOUR YEARS,” Rus pointed out, rolling his eyes. “NOW GET DRESSED ALREADY, OR WE’LL BE LATE!”

His phone buzzed, and he brought it out of his back pocket.

 

 **Ghost dicks @ 5:36 PM**  

 **Razz:** OK SO

 **Razz:** WE MIght be late

 **Razz:** I’m having trouble making my brother get ready

 **Rus:** That’s fine!! Just don’t be too rough on him, he’s going through a lot!!!

 **Fell:** KINKY

 **Razz:** Yeah ik

 **Razz:** WAIT FELL FUCK NO WHAT THE HELL

 **Fell:** HAH

 **Red:** n i thot m jkes wre bad

 **Fell:** SHUT

 **Comic:** why can’t i leave this fuckighbn chat oh m yogd

 **Blue:** You’re trapped here forever!!! >:D

 **Stretch:** if i have to deal with this shit you do too

 **Rus:** Oh yeah btw,,,

 **Rus:** When are we going to add Slim?? It’s been a week!

 **Comic:** i just think we should wait a bit longer

 **Red:** trnsltion:

 **Blue:** translation:

 **Red:** com h8s he

 **Blue:** Comic doesn’t trust him ;(

 **Blue:** Jinx!!

 **Red:** yoo

 **Comic:** alright well

 

Rus looked up from his phone, frowning at his brother, who simply shrugged.

“Can’t really help it, bro,” he said. “Somethin’ about him just seems… off? I dunno.”

“JUST GET DRESSED,” he sighed. He knew Comic wasn’t telling the full truth, but he didn’t have time to push at the moment. “WE HAVE TO BE THERE AT 5:45.”

 

* * *

 

Razz walked up to the door of Grillby’s, but paused right before he opening it. He turned slightly towards Slim, who was close behind him.

“It’s probably gonna be a bit crowded,” he warned. “But it won’t be too bad. If you need to step out, let me know.”

His brother only nodded. He opened the door, and the pair went inside. Everyone else was already there, talking amongst each other in one of the larger booths. Razz had gotten to see the restaurant underground, which was much smaller compared to it’s upgraded counterpart on the surface. The jukebox never worked, and the booths could only hold four monsters at maximum. He was glad the group wasn’t getting together _there_ instead.

“ABOUT TIME YOU TWO ARRIVED,” Fell teased as they approached. “WE WERE CONSIDERING JUST STARTING WITHOUT YOU.”

“WE WERE _NOT!!”_ Rus quickly objected.

“Red already got a drink,” Comic stated, walking back from the bar. “So he’s probably not gonna be the one to drive us all home.”

“Damn right,” Red confirmed, following behind the other. He took a sip from the glass of whiskey in his hand. “I don’t even know _how_ to drive. I know how t’drink, though. I’m good at drinking.”

“I’m waiting for the day you get alcohol poisoning,” Razz said. “Seriously, how have you not died yet?”

“Mmmmmmagic,” he said with a lazy, single jazz hand.

“ _ANYWAY!”_ Rus said suddenly, before Razz got a chance to respond. “HOW ABOUT YOU TWO HAVE A SEAT?”

They did as told, with Slim sitting on the far end next to Rus, and Razz taking a seat next to Blue on the opposite side. The booth was almost completely full, but that was expected with eight people.

 

* * *

 

_Jesus fucking christ._

Not only was this place at least twice the size of Muffet’s buffet, but it had _so many people._

When Slim was told that it was going to be crowded, he was expecting a _small_ crowd, not a nearly packed, full out restaurant that might as well have been rated 5 stars. Before leaving the house, he had put his bandages back on over his eye to prevent too much staring, but it didn’t seem to do much. He could see the glances other monsters took from their tables, short enough to where they weren’t _too_ obvious, but just enough for him to notice. He pulled up his hood, face flushing slightly. Sure, he would still probably get some weird looks, but the more he hid that stupid crack the better.

As they waited for the waiter to come take their orders, everyone had small conversation. By now, Slim found it easier to talk to the others, but he couldn’t get rid of the stutter, no matter how hard he tried. He knew he was either stuck with it, or he’d get rid of it with time, but for now he was _sick_ of it.

A teen fire elemental, whom he assumed was the owner’s daughter, walked up to the table dressed in a waitress uniform. She began taking everyone’s orders, writing them down on a notepad. Once she finished writing down Rus’s order, she looked expectantly at Slim.

He froze.

He tried to speak, but he couldn’t talk, _why couldn’t he fucking talk._ It’s just a _teen,_ he told himself, you don’t have _anything_ to be afraid of, so _just-_

“HE’LL HAVE THE CHEESEBURGER,” Rus intervened, to his relief. The waitress stared for a moment, before writing down the order and leaving to get it prepared. Slim sighed.

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up, man,” Comic said. “It just takes some gettin’ used to.”

He didn’t respond, feeling his face heat up. His soul had begun to thump fast in his chest, but now that the teen had left, he could feel it gradually slowing down.

“Wh-why is-” he stopped himself at the stutter. “Why it is-” he stopped himself again. He huffed. Clearly, this sentence didn’t want to be spoken clearly. “Why’s it s-so hard to ta-alk?”

“‘Cause you’ve been through hell,” Red pointed out. “Not to mention, you’re try’na talk to different versions of people who were originally wanted you dead with every fiber of their being.”

“ _GREAT_ REASSURANCE, DUMBASS,” Fell commented.

“No one likes a smart-ass, bro.”

“Hey maybe _don’t_ fight in public?” Stretch, who was unlucky enough to be sitting between the two, suggested. “We’ve already got people starin’ at our table by now.”

“WE AREN’T FIGHTING!!” Fell insisted, sounding slightly offended. “WE’RE JUST--..BROTHERLY BICKERING!! LIKE BROTHERS DO!!”

“And you were only ‘bickering’ when he had to stay at our place for the night?” Comic asked, stealing a small sip of Red’s drink.

“NO ONE LIKES A SMART-ASS, COMIC.”

“AGAIN, WE ARE IN _PUBLIC!!”_ Rus complained. “WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!”

Slim sunk back a bit into his seat. While Rus was nice, and Fell had proven to be slightly less terrifying than before, why did they both have to be so _loud?_ That was simply why he had preferred texting them the past few days; any verbal conversation left his ears ringing. Of course, he could probably ask them to quiet down, if only a small amount, but he didn’t yet know how they would react. Sure, they seemed nice as of now, but he didn’t exactly _know_ whether someone was faking compassion or not anymore.

 

He didn’t realize how much time had passed while he was thinking until the food arrived.

He had never tasted a cheeseburger so _good_ in his entire life.

 

* * *

 

One month after Slim’s arrival. 

He had adjusted more and more, and progressively began hanging out with Rus more, as well.

 

He had never expected to succeed in convincing the other to give weed a try.

 

“AGH, I MESSED IT UP AGAIN!” Rus groaned after attempting to roll his own joint for the third time.

“It would p-probably help if you took off your gloves,” he pointed out, smirking slightly.

“NO, NO,” Rus denied. “I JUST… NEED TO FIND A BETTER TECHNIQUE!”

He watched as the other tried and failed to roll it correctly. Again.

“Okay, how ‘bout you j-just let me do it?” Slim offered. Rus was about to protest, but the taller of the two began preparing one before he got the chance to say no. Once he was finished, he handed it over.

“WOW!” Rus exclaimed as he took it in his hand. “YOU’RE REALLY GOOD AT DRUGS!”

He lit the end of it, and toked for the first time.

 

* * *

 

“HOOOOLY SHIitt,” Rus said wistfully, staring at the ceiling above. “I feel like I’m floating.”

Slim snickered a bit. Due to smoking practically 24/7, it took him longer than 15 minutes to trip fully, but that obviously wasn’t the case for the other. He was surprised to hear his voice go quiet, but simply figured he was witnessing the more introspective part of his high.

“If you drop soap onto the floor,” Rus began, speaking slowly, “is the floor clean, or the soap dirty?”

Slim couldn’t help but laugh harder.

 

* * *

 

To his disappointment, Rus’s high had left just as quickly as it had arrived. The less experienced skeleton had been almost completely sobered up after only an hour, and realized it was getting late.

“SANS DOESN’T LIKE IT WHEN I STAY OUT LATE,” he said after apologising for having to leave so soon.

“You’re an adult, a-aren’t ya?” Slim asked, slightly confused. “Not to mention, y-your house is literally right across the street from here.”

“WELL, YES,” he confirmed. “BUT HE… WORRIES. I THINK IT HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH OUR PARENTS, BUT I’M NOT REALLY SURE.”

They reluctantly said their goodbyes, and Rus opened the door, only to find that it had begun pouring rain without either of the two noticing. He sighed and, despite his lack of a jacket, was about to step out anyway, when Slim stopped him.

“Woah, you’re not gonna go out in _that,”_ he remarked, lightly putting his hand on the other’s shoulder. “You’ll-...get a cold, or something.”

As he looked to the side, he could feel his face heating up. Before he could fully process what he was doing, he took his own hoodie off and hurriedly put it over Rus’s shoulders. The mentioned looked confused, to say the least.

“I ONLY HAVE TO GO DOWN THE STREET-”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence, however, due to the taller skeleton pushing him out the door and shutting it.

Slim leaned against the now closed door, staring ahead of himself with a wide eye. He could _feel_ the blush on his face. He just hoped no one else was around to-

“Smooth,” Razz’s voice remarked. He looked up to see his brother leaning forward over the railing upstairs, a sly smirk on his face. He groaned, slid down the door until he was sitting down on the floor, and put his hands over his flushed face as he attempted to hide it.

 

* * *

 

Rus stared at the closed door in front of him, face twisted with confusion. He heard a groan come from the other side, and decided he didn’t feel like thinking about it for now. He was simply disappointed that he didn’t get to thank Slim for the jacket _or_ for the cool new experience! He’d have to do it later, he guessed. Sick of standing around in the pouring rain, he pulled the hood over his face, and walked home.

“SANS, I’M BACK!” He said as he went through the door.

“Oh, hey bro,” Comic responded, waving from where he was watching TV on the couch. Red was there, too. Apparently, Fell had decided to lock him out of the house that night. Fantastic. “Where’d the jacket come from?”

“SLIM GAVE IT TO ME!” He explained. “HE DIDN’T WANT ME TO WALK IN THE RAIN! WHICH IS KIND OF WEIRD, CONSIDERING OUR HOUSES AREN’T VERY FAR APART.”

“Is that the jacket makin’ the room smell like smoke, or did you two light up?” Red asked, covering his nose.

“AH, SORRY,” Rus answered. “I FORGOT HOW MUCH THE SMELL SPREADS. WE TRIED SOME ‘MARY JANE,’ OR WHATEVER IT WAS HE CALLED IT. IT WAS SURPRISINGLY FUN!”

Comic, who had decided to take a sip of ketchup from the bottle in his hand, nearly choked as his brother finished the sentence.

“Woah, hold on, _what,”_ he said, slightly alarmed. “You _smoked?”_

“WELL, YEAH!” He responded. “I PROBABLY WON’T DO IT AGAIN ANY TIME SOON, BUT IT WAS A VERY INTERESTING EXPERIENCE!”

Red sunk back into the couch. Considering Comic’s protectiveness over his little brother, this likely wasn’t going to end well.

“Alright, you’ve _gotta_ stop hangin’ with him,” Comic stated. “There’s no _possible_ way that could turn out well.”

“OKAY, SANS, I KNOW YOU DON’T LIKE HIM, BUT DON’T YOU THINK THAT’S OVERREACTING A LITTLE BIT?”

“He’s gonna get you into nothin’ but trouble; hell, he’ll probably even get ya _arrested_ at some point.”

“I’M 26 YEARS OLD AND HAVE BEEN FRIENDS WITH _FELL_ FOR FOUR YEARS. I THINK I CAN HANDLE SOME TROUBLE BY NOW.”

“But can you handle _jail,_ bro? I’m just trying to look after you, and that guy is _not_ someone you should be around. His story doesn’t even add up. I’ve been trying for _years_ to get that stupid machine fixed, and he did it in _two days?_ Even with the blueprints, it’s taken me a month so far to be even _half way there.”_

Red felt awkward, yet interested at the same time. _These_ brothers only fought once in a blue moon, so it was quite the rare sight to behold.

“ _YOUR_ JEALOUSY DOES NOT GIVE ME REASON TO AVOID HIM!” Rus insisted. “I CAN TELL THAT HE’S A GOOD PERSON. WHILE IT IS RATHER STRANGE THAT HE FIXED THE MACHINE IN ONLY TWO DAYS, THE CIRCUMSTANCES HE WAS IN JUSTIFIES THE HURRY!”

‘Have you thought to consider _why_ he was on death row, Paps?” Comic asked. “He’s a criminal.”

“HE WAS TRYING TO DO WHAT WAS RIGHT, YOU KNOW THAT!”

“Yeah, and I _also_ know that he’s a fucking drug addict,” he pointed out. “He could be lying about a lot of shit, and we wouldn’t have any way to tell, would we? I’m telling you as your big bro, Paps, that you gotta stop hanging out with him.”

“UGH, STOP THAT ALREADY!” Rus said, voice suddenly increasing in volume. “I DON’T _NEED_ YOU TO LOOK AFTER ME ANYMORE, SANS. STOP ACTING LIKE I’M A LITTLE KID! I CAN HANDLE MYSELF! IF HE _DOES_ GET ME IN TROUBLE, FEEL FREE TO RUB IT IN MY FACE ALL YOU WANT, BUT FOR NOW I WON’T LET YOUR DISTRUST RUN MY LIFE!”

Before his brother could respond, the taller skeleton went back out the door he came in from, and out of sight. Comic let out a long sigh as he rested his head in his hands.

“I just want what’s best for him,” he said, staring at the TV. “Slim isn’t it.”

“Actually,” Red hesitated for a few seconds. “Slim’s not that bad. If you just gave him a chance, you’d be able to see that.”

Comic didn’t respond.

“Plus, no offence, but you _do_ kinda baby your bro. Just sayin.”

 

* * *

 

Papyrus stomped through the rain, a stern frown on his face. Once he had left the house, he went straight for the forest to clear his head. Monsters had been on the surface for _six years_ now, and yet Sans _still_ felt like he had to protect him from every little thing. Why couldn’t he just accept the fact that his _precious baby brother_ could make his own decisions?

He saw what he assumed was his small white dog in his peripheral vision, but kept trekking ahead anyway. He didn’t feel like petting it at the moment. A puddle of water on the ground caught his eye, and he stared at his reflection. If he had been only a little taller and half-blind, he would look exactly like Slim with the jacket on. He took his scarf and wrapped it around his head, covering one of his eye sockets, before pulling the hood up. He let out a tiny laugh at his own closet cosplay, and moved on.

He figured he had been walking for about thirty minutes before he decided to head back home, and turned around.

 

_Crunch._

 

His visible eye widened as he looked down.

 

When had it started _snowing?_

 

He looked around, confusion only growing as he saw snow everywhere, even in the direction he had been heading just moments before. He saw the dog, but it wasn’t a dog. Standing in place of what he had originally thought to be his canine, was a cat with patchy, knotted fur. Swapfell’s cat had followed him all the way out here…?

He shook his head, and cautiously walked back from where he came. As he got closer to his familiar house, his footsteps slowed.

 

It was a _mess._

 

The back door was torn off it’s hinges, there were papers and machinery all over the basement, and the machine was in pieces.

He ran to the front of the house, only to see a sight that wasn’t much better.

All of the windows were bashed in, though some of them had boards nailed over them. The doorknob was missing, so the lock was likely gone, too, yet the door was hanging open. The inside of the building was even _worse,_ with the couch turned onto it’s side, and the TV looking as if someone had hit it with a sledgehammer. The refrigerator was face-down, with whatever food that was inside smelling like it hadn’t been touched in at least a month.

He walked up to his room. It seemed… _smaller._ Instead of his old race car bed, there was an old mattress that didn’t even have a bed frame. If the lamp weren’t smashed on the ground, it would have looked like....

 

Sans’s....

 

Oh.

 

Oh _no._

 

He rushed out of his room, ran over to what was _supposed_ to be his brother’s, and forced the door open. The room looked almost like his own, with a rocket ship bed in the corner, action figures on a table to the side, and a large bookshelf. The main differences were that all the action figures looked like they went through the depths of hell, the bookshelf was completely empty, with books covering the floor instead, and the bed was turned upside down. The walls were painted black.

He backed out of the room, tried to lean on the railing that kept people from falling off the upper level and onto the floor below, but it wasn’t there. He let out a small cry of alarm as he fell, his phone falling out of his pocket on impact. He stared at it for a second before grabbing it and quickly dialing his brother’s number.

 

**_DIALING…_ **

**_DIALING…_ **

**_The number you have dialed has been disconnected or is no longer in service._ **

 

Papyrus frowned, and tried to call a few more times, as well as some different numbers. Every single time, it didn’t work. He sighed, and hugged his knees close to him as he sat on the floor, not bothering to get up.

 

He had no way to contact his home.

 

And he was trapped in a world completely different from his own.

 

* * *

 

It was morning when Slim heard frantic knocking on the door. Razz went to open it, but before he even got there, Comic opened it himself and rushed in.

“Where’s Papyrus?” He asked, looking directly at Slim. He looked worried.

“I h-haven’t seen him since last night,” he answered. “D-did something happen?”

“You’re _sure_ he isn't here?” The shorter asked, choosing not to answer the question. Slim nodded.

“What happened?” Razz asked.

“We had a fight last night,” Comic finally explained. “I haven’t seen him since.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact: this was gonna come a lot later but i ran out of ideas so if it feels rushed af i'm sorry
> 
> also slim is actually just being a nice dude but if ya wanna see that as mapleblossom i won't complain


	8. I Thought He Was Dead!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus meets a rather shocking fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once i'm done with this whole thing i really wanna make it part of a series and just,, tell the backstories for all the skelebros bc honestly that sounds really fun
> 
> and then possibly have more character variety n stuff like that
> 
> idk how many people will read it tho

“So, how long will we be able to hide him from the guards?”

_ “Certainly not long enough for it to be interesting.” _

“My son is in potential life-threatening danger, and all you care about is whether or not it’s  _ interesting?” _

_“My son was in life-threatening danger for_ two years _, yours can suck it the hell up.”_

**“Children, please, stop your bickering. It’s giving me a skull-splitting migraine.”**

**_“You’re just paranoid, he’ll be fine. Besides, this story needed some action.”_ **

“Once we get out of here, I’m never going to let any of you near me or my sons ever again.”

 

* * *

 

Papyrus heard heavy footsteps approaching, and quickly ducked behind a large bush as a pair of female royal guards passed by, chatting loudly amongst themselves. He hadn’t necessarily  _ wanted  _ to leave the house, but he needed to find  _ someone  _ who was nice enough to help him out. The problem was, though, that if he was where he thought he was, there would only be a single monster at minimum that fit the description.

“hOI!!”

He probably would have jumped about three feet in the air if he weren’t hoping for that particular voice. Okay, maybe he did anyway, but that was only because he wasn’t expecting it so  _ soon.  _ He looked down to see a small plush doll staring up at him. It looked like a Temmie, but torn up with a missing button eye.

“Ah, hello,” He greeted, keeping his voice down. He didn’t feel like getting caught any time soon. “Temmie, right?”

“yaYA!! yURe paPyRUs rgHt ?” She asked, to which he nodded. “lots of pEoLe HavE BEEn LOoKIn fOR U! Luckil tem aM NOT a SNitcH! WoN'T telL ANyoN!”

“Thank you for that,” he responded. “I actually need some help! You see, I’m not really supposed to be herE-”

His sentence turned into a yell as someone grabbed the back of his- or, well,  _ Slim’s  _ jacket, and pulled him roughly out into the open. Before he could regain his balance, he was slammed against a thick tree and held there with what felt like a furry hand around his neck.

“ _ You,”  _ his attacker spoke. He finally got a good look at them, and they just happened to be someone he recognised.  _ Two  _ someones.

“(He’s been  _ here  _ the whole time?)” Dogaressa signed, glaring at the skeleton. “(Why couldn’t Doggo smell him?)”

“Who cares, let’s kick his ass now and save questions for the queen,” Dogamy answered. 

They readied their axes.

 

Well, it was a good thing Papyrus stayed in shape all these years.

 

* * *

 

Comic tried calling his brother’s phone again.

 

**_DIALING…_ **

**_DIALING…_ **

**_The number you have dialed has been disconnected or is no longer in service._ **

 

“Still no luck?” Stretch asked after the other let out a sigh.

“Nope,” he replied. “How ‘bout you?”

“Nothing,” the other said back. 

“Are you sure he’s not just hiding?” Razz suggested. “I mean, if your fight was bad, he might be avoiding us.”

“Nah, he usually comes back home pretty quickly,” Comic said. “Not to mention, I doubt his phone just  _ randomly  _ disconnected or something.”

“Wait, wait, uh,” Slim began, recalling something that was probably important. “I called my brother a-a lot, while I was- uhh, y’know, and it always said t-the phone was out of service. It was like it just- disappeared, or something.”

“Or like it went to a different universe,” Blue pointed out. Everyone turned to look at him. “I mean, I could be wrong, but! It seems kind of obvious! There’s a  _ pattern  _ here!”

“ACTUALLY, NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT,” Fell pondered, “I  _ DID  _ TRY TO CALL SANS A FEW TIMES BEFORE I CAME UP MYSELF.”

“I must’ve called my bro about 100 times,” Stretch added on.

“Okay, yeah,” Red started, “don’t mean t’start a panic here, but Rus’s probably fucked.”

“All we can do is hope he’s somewhere g-good,” Slim sighed.

Suddenly, the door was kicked off of it’s hinges as Undyne burst through, her  fiancée hoisted onto her shoulder.

“WHERE THE HELL IS HE?!” She shouted. Slim, who was originally sitting on the couch right next to the door, was now halfway up the stairs as he fled away from the loud noise. Since their first meeting two weeks prior, he had found that he couldn’t be in the same room as the two, no matter who else was with him at the time. 

“I already told you,” Comic said, voice slightly strained, “we don’t  _ know.” _

“We think he could be in a different world,” Razz explained. “But we don’t have any way to tell for sure.”

“Well, we have to find  _ some  _ way to know!” Undyne insisted. “What about that machine thing in the basement?”

“I still haven’t been able to fix it,” Comic sighed.

“I-I could help you out, i-if you want!” Alphys offered after being set down by her taller  fiancée . “T-two heads are better than o-one, right?”

Comic agreed, and the two went down to the basement, leaving Undyne with the others.

“So he’s either hurt, in an entirely different world, or both,” she gathered. “Sounds like bullshit, but considering you’re all here, I guess it  _ can  _ make sense.”

“ _ NOTHING  _ ABOUT THIS REALLY ‘MAKES SENSE’,” Fell pointed out, his tone dark. “IF HE ENDED UP IN A  _ FELL  _ WORLD, HE’S AS GOOD AS DEAD.”

“Way to lighten the mood, bro,” Red said.

“YOU KNOW I’M RIGHT.”

 

* * *

 

Papyrus stood still as two purple axes moved through him. When the two first confronted him, he had been expecting more of a challenge, and yet they had done the exact same attack for three turns, now. Sure, the purple magic was a surprise, but it seemed to have the same rules as it’s blue counterpart. He was almost tempted to move, if only to boost the dogs’ confidence, but remained frozen for fear of ruining Slim’s jacket. When it was finally his turn, he picked up a stick from the ground and threw it far away from him. The two hesitated only a second before giving into the urge, and sprinting after it. 

He was about to take the chance to flee, but was stopped by what felt almost like being electrocuted by two tasers at once.

He stiffened completely as he fell to the ground below. He let out a loud curse as he hit the snow, the voltage continuing for what felt like an eternity before it subsided. He heard someone walking up next to him, and looked up to see… 

...Alphys?

She had a scar over one of her eyes, and was completely decked out with armor. He knew she had electricity magic, as his own did as well, but he never thought it could have been so  _ intense. _ He was turned onto his stomach, and felt what he assumed was magic-blocking handcuffs being put around his wrists before he was roughly pulled up, stumbling as she shoved him forward. 

As she led him to the capital, monsters from all around gathered to watch and stare. He heard them whispering, although some were louder than others.

 

“Is that that skinny dude?”

“I thought he died!”   
  
“I hope they figure out how the hell he escaped, he cost two guardsmen their jobs.”

“They were shit guards anyway.”

“Stick’s goin’ down!”

“I wonder where all that money’s gonna go.”

“I held ‘im ransom a couple years ago. It’s probably gonna go to waste, ‘cause like hell he’s got any  _ friends  _ to give it to.”

 

The last comment made him attempt to stop in his tracks, but the cuffs, paired with Alphys pushing him along, prevented him from doing anything. All he could do was keep his head down and listen to the rumors already being spread.

Only a few minutes after they had arrived in Hotland, a news crew ran up with cameras flashing. One of the reporters attempted to shove an NTT-brand microphone in Papyrus’s face while asking a question, but before they could, Alphys took the mic and tossed it to the side, into the lava below. This didn’t stop the crew, however, as an unfamiliar robot spoke to a camera, occasionally gesturing to the two as they followed the crowd. 

_ Finally,  _ after what felt like hours of cameras flashing and people talking loudly, the two arrived at the elevator to the capital in the core. The news crew kept shouting questions and taking pictures as the doors closed.

“Because of you, I’ve lost two guard members and am probably gonna lose another one once I bring you in,” Alphys spoke up as they rode down. “If it weren’t against orders, you would have been way more than  _ electrocuted  _ back in Snowdin. Hell, I would’ve spread your dust on Jerry’s front doorstep by now.”

Suddenly, Papyrus understood why Slim’s introduction to Undertale’s Alphys hadn’t gone very well.

“By the way,” she began, “there’s a chance your life’ll be spared if you tell the queen exactly how you escaped.”

The elevator came to a stop.

 

“So I strongly suggest you hold your tongue.”

 

* * *

 

“It’s almost finished, I can feel it,” Comic said as he messed with the wiring of the machine. 

“Woah, optimism? I haven’t heard any o’ _ that  _ all day,” Red pointed out, drilling a nail into place.

“Don’t act like  _ you  _ don’t have the same feeling,” he responded, putting a metal panel over the exposed wires as he finished.

“Okay, fair point,” admitted the other. “How ‘bout you two?”

Alphys and Stretch barely looked up from the number pad they were working hard to program as fast as possible.

“Mhm,” Stretch muttered.

Only about two hours before, they had all decided it was smarter to have the lazy, yet more experienced skeletons, as well as Alphys, work on the machine together while everyone else searched for Rus in case the theory was incorrect. Slim hadn’t been able to help nearly as much as he wanted, due to Undyne being with one team, and Alphys being on the other, so he simply searched alone. 

“W-woah, uh,” Alphys spoke, looking away from the keypad momentarily, “a bunch of weird s-symbols just showed up o-on the blueprints.”

“Lemme see,” Comic said, taking the prints in his hand. He read the symbols.

Numbers…?

 

No, not  _ just  _ numbers.

 

Coordinates.

 

* * *

 

Papyrus had to wait before seeing the queen, as there was already a citizen being sentenced by the time the two monsters arrived. He watched, taking mental notes on how to behave in front of this world’s Toriel.

“For theft and disrespect of higher ranking monsters,” the queen spoke, her voice with a noble tone, “I sentence one year of lab work under the instruction of Dr. Undyne. That is all.”

The blue bunny monster seemed distressed as he was led away by the feline-appearing royal guardsman. She seemed to slow down a bit as she caught sight of Alphys and he, but kept pushing the taller monster ahead after only a moment’s hesitation. Alphys pushed him out, following after him as they stood before the queen. Following the bunny’s example, Papyrus knelt, keeping his head down.

“A criminal returns,” Toriel remarked. “I can see he’s learned some manners. Where did you find him, Captain?”

“In Snowdin, your majesty,” the reptilian monster answered. “The dogi spotted him first, and gave me a call.”

“It’s a shame they no longer had the power to arrest him, then,” the queen said, nearly sarcastic in tone. “Were they fighting when you found them?”

“No, ma’am,” she responded. “The suspect had thrown a stick, and they could not control themselves.”

“You saw this occur?”

“Yes. I arrived just as he threw it.”

“I see.”

A pause.

“Papyrus, look me in the eyes,” the queen said suddenly.

Not having expected the order, he hesitated, before Alphys kicked him. He raised his head, and looked into her piercing red eyes.

“How did you escape?” She asked. “How have you stayed hidden for so long?”

He gulped. While  _ technically  _ he could tell her how  _ Slim  _ had escaped, he didn’t want to put his friends into any potential danger. If he talked about the machine, how Slim had gotten it to work, this world’s Undyne may fix it, and hell, may even  _ succeed.  _ He didn’t want to think of how that would end.

 

It wasn’t the thought of death that made him question himself, however.

 

It was the thought that he might not come back this time around.

 

A few months after reaching the surface, Frisk had told everyone about the resets, how they could make the entire world go back in time any time they wanted. Whether it was back to their last save, or back to when they first fell down Mt. Ebott, they could go back. They had told everyone how much they had died, while apologising profusely and crying rather hard. Papyrus had forgiven them for killing him the most often, of course, but couldn’t help but be slightly hurt. Had he made them mad, somehow?

The question was, however, if he died in a different world, would he come back if there were to be another reset?

“Answer me,” Toriel ordered, interrupting his thoughts. “If you do not tell me exactly how you got away, you will be executed.”

Alright, no more thinking. He had to make a decision  _ right now. _

 

Either put his friends at risk, or face permanent death.

 

He figured the answer was obvious.

 

* * *

 

As the machine whirred to life, the room filled with cheers.

“I can’t believe it’s actually  _ fixed!”  _ Comic said, smiling with pride.

“Hell yeah, we did it!” Red said back, patting him on the back.

“I’ll call the others and tell ‘em to get their asses over here,” Stretch stated, taking out his phone, unable to mask the grin on his face.

“I-is everyone gonna be able to f-fit in there?” Alphys asked, eyeing the inside of the machine.

“Probably,” Red answered, “An’ if not, we can make two trips. Unless it breaks again, and if it does I’ll be so fucking pissed oh my go-”

“The best we can do is hope that  _ doesn’t  _ happen,” Comic interrupted. 

Suddenly, the door opened, and the passionates began walking inside.

“That was fast,” Stretch remarked, putting his phone back into his pocket.

“WE TELEPORTED,” Fell explained.

“I thought you hated teleporting?” Red asked. “Isn’t that, like, a Papyrus thing?”

“YES, BUT THIS IS AN OCCASION WHERE I DON’T GIVE A SHIT WHAT I DISLIKE.”

“Slim is outside,” Blue said. “He doesn’t wanna come in because-” he gestured to Undyne and Alphys- “Y’know.”

“He’s gonna have to get used to us eventually,” Undyne pointed out.

“The two of you from his world literally tried to get him killed,” Red said, tone sharper than it was previously. “It’s gonna take him some time, so cut ‘im some slack, kay?”

“Speaking of which, let’s test this thing out and hopefully find my bro,” Comic stated, punching the coordinates from the blueprints into the keypad.

The door opened yet again, and Slim slowly inched in. He stared at the ground as he moved as far away from Alphys and Undyne as possible.

“P-Papyrus is… He’s m-my friend t-too,” he stuttered, voice timid. He already looked skinny with his jacket on, but without it, he looked even  _ thinner.  _ His red sweater hung loosely off of his bones as he stood in the corner of the crowded room, avoiding eye contact with everyone around.

“LET’S JUST GO BEFORE RUS HAS THE CHANCE TO GET INTO ANY TROUBLE,” Fell said impatiently.

They filed into the machine.

“Hey, could you two stay here?” Comic asked before Undyne and Alphys tried to get in. “It’s already really crowded with seven people, and we need someone to stay here and watch if anything fucks up.”

They agreed, albeit reluctantly.

 

He pressed the button.

 

* * *

 

“To hell,” was all that Alphys had answered with when Papyrus asked where he was being taken. From the looks of it, though, it seemed he was going to the city. The crowds were bigger than ever, now, with somehow double the amount of blinding cameras there were previously. The cuffs around his wrists grew more uncomfortable by the second, the feeling of magic being blocked off completely causing him to squirm. He was so used to the feeling of constantly using magic, that as of now he felt extremely pent up.

The city came into view, and he felt sicker with every step closer.

 

* * *

 

Slim had his eye shut tight, bracing himself for the loud noises that never came.

“Uh, what’s wrong?” Blue asked, slightly worried. “Isn’t it supposed to be doing something?”

“Yeah,” Red answered. “Did we mess somethin’ up?”

Fell opened the door, and drew in a sharp breath as he looked around.

“HOLY  _ SHIT,”  _ he exclaimed. “SOMETHING HAPPENED, ALRIGHT.”

 

As they all stepped out, the change was obvious.

 

There was machinery all over the ground, the door to the basement was torn completely off of it’s hinges, and there was another, slightly different set of blueprints on the ground.

“The machine’s not broken,” Stretch assured. “I dunno what all these metal parts are from.”

Suddenly, Slim’s phone began buzzing spastically. He took it out, read over the notifications, and looked quite panicked.

“What’s wrong?” Razz asked, a hint of concern in his voice.

“We’re in the worst world p-possible,” Slim said, his voice hardly even audible. 

He turned the screen toward everyone else.

  
  


**UNDERNET**

**#papyrus is trending!**

**@NTT_NEWS**

[ @papyrus ](https://twitter.com/papyrus____) HAS FINALLY BEEN FOUND AFTER AN ENTIRE MONTH OF SEARCHING! THE CRIMINAL MARKING SEEMS TO HAVE DISAPPEARED, BUT HE IS NO DOUBT OUR MAN! WE WILL BE COMING TO YOU LIVE FROM HIS EXECUTION, SO STAY TUNED!  **#papyrus**

**@Undyne**

It’s about time  [ @papyrus ](https://twitter.com/papyrus____) was caught! He tampered with my work!! Get ready for execution selfies LMAO  **#papyrus**

**@DOG_I**

We caught  [ @papyrus ](https://twitter.com/papyrus____) first, dammit! We should get our jobs back!! So what he managed to escape while we were watching his house, it’s not like we had anything to do with it!!  **#papyrus**

**@DOGGO**

I think I may be the only one unhappy with the news regarding  [ @papyrus ](https://twitter.com/papyrus____) . Because I couldn’t find him, I may lose my job. At least he will die for that fact, and many more.  **#papyrus**  
  


Under some of the messages were photos of Papyrus being shoved ahead by Alphys, his head angled downward. He was wearing Slim’s jacket.

 

“Oh my god…” Blue murmured, staring at the phone in disbelief.

“Where the hell is that?” Comic asked, his voice panicked.

“E-e-executions usually happen in the city,” Slim said quickly. “But th-that’s really far away. I-if we don’t get there in the next five m-minutes-”

 

“Let’s fucking  _ go,”  _ he interrupted. He ran out the door, but when the others followed after him, he wasn’t there.

 

* * *

 

Comic took a shortcut to where he  _ thought  _ the city was, but as it turned out, he was way off.

He let out a short yell as he fell into the garbage dump instead.

He tried again, and teleported above lava in Hotland.

He tried again, and teleported onto the roof of NTT Resort.

_ Where the hell was the city. _

 

* * *

 

As soon as Comic disappeared, Slim fled to the city on his own.

 

As he ran, his soul thumped in his ribs. It was  _ his  _ fault Rus was in this much trouble. If he had just stayed in the stupid basement and not gone to Undyne’s lab, if he had just  _ died- _

He shook the thoughts from his head, paying more attention to the direction he was headed.

 

* * *

 

Razz  _ thought  _ he remembered the layout of the underground, but as he tried to navigate the way to the city, he found he was horribly mistaken. He shocked a few citizens by running directly into them, but continued on his way. He  _ had  _ to remember how to get to the damn city.

 

* * *

 

Fell didn’t even bother letting the last three skeletons run off on their own; so, of course, he made Stretch carry both of the remaining Sanses, while he carried Stretch. He did his best to find his way throughout the underground, breathing heavily and nearly dropping the three others with every stop. It was already hard to carry someone taller than him, but when that taller person was also holding two other people,  _ while  _ Fell had to run as fast as possible, he regretted his decision almost immediately. No backing out yet, though. Rus was in trouble.

 

* * *

 

Rus looked around the clearing. If this weren’t a fellverse, he would have found it hard to believe that they cleared out an entire area in the city for the  _ sole  _ purpose of killing people. There was a large crowd gathered around, watching intently as he was led into the center. There were several royal guards stationed within the crowd, keeping them at a distance, but also making sure nothing went wrong. He couldn’t tell if that was normal for executions or not.

A guard shoved him hard from behind, causing him to fall down. They pulled him up, set a box down in front of him, and forced his head down onto it. He looked to the side, at all the faces in the crowd watching him, as the hand withdrew. He heard Alphys’ armor shift, and saw the shadow of the axe on the ground.

Suddenly, the crowd grew louder. It wasn’t cheering, however. Instead, it was chaos. As if something had interrupted the “peace,” and was shoving its way through.

Alphys didn’t hesitate, though.

 

Rus braced himself for impact, closing his eyes.

 

**_“STOP!”_ **

 

A hush went through the clearing, and he hesitantly opened his eyes.

 

Standing in front of the crowd was a skeleton with bandages around his eye.

 

He pulled off the bandages to reveal a large scar. It reached to the back of his skull.

 

“I’m-,” the skeleton spoke, breathing heavily, “I’m the one you want. Not him. I’m Papyrus.”

 

“INCORRECT,” a louder, raspier voice objected. A shorter skeleton dressed in all black, aside from the red heels, scarf, and gloves, stepped out of the crowd. He seemed slightly winded. “ _ I’M _ PAPYRUS.”

“Nah,” a quieter, more laid back voice said. Another skeleton stepped out, this time wearing an orange hoodie and jorts. “I’m pretty sure I’m Papyrus.”

Rus didn’t see it clearly, but Alphys must have made some kind of motion, because the guards finally attacked all of them at once. Fell defended himself just as well as expected, considering his royal guard training, while Slim surrendered easily, and Stretch gave one of the guards a solid punch in the jaw before surrendering as well. 

“Well, I guess if we’re doin’ Spartacus,” a gruff, deeper voice said from behind, “I’m Papyrus, too.”

Rus heard her armor shift as Alphys lowered her axe and turned around.

“Sans…?” She asked. 

“Nope,” Red’s voice denied. “Didn’t I just say I’m Papyrus? Might wanna get your ears checked, pal.”

“ _ I’M _ PAPYRUS!!” Blue shouted, shoving Red out of the way. 

“Oh my god, why was this so hard to find,” Comic’s voice said, his tone out of breath and worried. “I’m Papyrus, I guess.”

Rus immediately felt much more relieved than he was when the others had shown up, simply happy that his brother was actually  _ here.  _ He tried to raise his head and turn it, but it was forced back down. All he could do instead was smile. Until Alphys opened her mouth again, anyway.

 

“We’ll just-” She began. Rus heard her armor move, and nearly felt the axe hovering above his neck. “We’ll kill all of you! Interrupting a public execution-”

“-is considered a crime punishable by either death or a lifetime of experimentation. Performing Spartacus, however, results in death for everyone involved,” yet another voice interrupted. Rus looked up to see Razz standing in front of him, holding a bone attack between the axe and his neck. 

 

“Nice to see you again after so long, Captain,” he commented. “I’m Papyrus, by the way.”

 

* * *

 

Alphys stared in awe for a few seconds.

 

“Sans, why…” She spoke, unable to completely process her words. “Why are you  _ helping  _ him? You- you’re gonna have to-”

“I’m gonna have to die, right?” He asked, a smug look on his face. “Well, go ahead. Show me just how good you are at being captain of the royal guard.”

He lifted the bone, bringing the axe up with it. Alphys was hardly able to keep it in her grasp, distracted by her own shock.

 

“Kill me,” he dared. “Prove that you are worthy of your ranking.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I!! Actually had to cut some of this out!! Because it was long and bad!!
> 
> This one took longer than I wanted to get done, but that's simply because it's one of the longer chapters! It's about the same length as chpt.5, at 13 pages in google docs! 
> 
> School's actually started for me by now btw, so updates are gonna become a bit less frequent. I do really want to get it finished, though!!


	9. Panic! At the Execution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Razz meets up with old friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one probably has the least amount of dialogue and i'm very not used to writing scenes with this much action so if it sucks i'm sorry
> 
> ALSo this has the mean C word people use to describe disabled people in it and if i offend anyone i'm really really sorry and if i stepped over any boundaries please let me know and i'll take it out ASAP
> 
> i felt like trash just adding it in but the person who said it is an Awful Person so i felt i had to?? idk tell me if i need to take it out plea se

There were unlikely advantages to having no armor when fighting for your life.

 

Advantages like heightened speed, agility, and not having to worry about being too hot.

 

The disadvantages of wearing a more casual outfit, of course, were the lack of protection, but also…

 

The fucking  _ heels. _

 

Razz couldn’t hide the stumble he had when dodging the axe that swung just in front of his skull, nearly causing him to fall over. He hastily regained his balance, took off his shoes, and threw them at his foe. She dodged easily, of course, but he wasn’t finished attacking yet. Another disadvantage he had was, while he had more speed, Alphys  _ was  _ wearing her armor. Every attack he sent only did a fraction of what it  _ should  _ have. 

He studied her movements. She seemed to have grown slower, by the looks of it. Her reaction time was off by just a few seconds, which would have been her immediate downfall if Razz were actually aiming to kill. Crime had decreased significantly since the barrier’s breaking, so he figured she was out of practice, though he would have expected more from the queen’s most trusted monster despite that fact. As his final line of bones declined, he heard shuffling as more royal guards came to assist their captain.

He glanced behind him only to see the guards in question run directly into a line of glowing red bones that had spontaneously risen from the ground in front of them.

“I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET, FUCKERS!” Fell’s voice shouted.

Razz looked back to his own fight just in time to see Alphys’ axe swing at him yet again. He stepped backward, no longer stumbling due to his lack of 6-inch heels. She didn’t stop, though, advancing forward with each swing. She changed up the pattern, confusing him long enough to catch him just under his eye socket. He hissed at the feeling of the blade cutting his face, but didn’t dare let his guard down. 

 

* * *

 

**@Undyne**

I came to this thing to watch someone die not for this anime-esque bullshit

**@Undyne**

Brb gonna let the queen know her boney midget’s back and tryna kill my girlfriend

 

“Your majesty,” Undyne began, hurriedly walking into the throne room, “apologies if I’m interrupting anything, but something’s gone wrong at the execution!”

Queen Toriel stared at her, piercing red eyes boring into her soul.

“You are interrupting nothing, Doctor,” she responded. “What has happened?”

The scientist pulled up a livestream on her phone and presented it to her superior.

“Sans is back,” she said. “He’s defending his brother and, as you can see, trying to kill Alphys.”

“What of those others?”

“They seem to be some kind of clones, your majesty. There are six of them, excluding the two we know.”

The queen looked at the screen in thought for a few seconds, before rising from the throne.

 

“I believe this must be put to an end immediately.”

 

* * *

 

While Fell did his best to keep the rest of the guards occupied, Comic and Red focused on getting Rus out of the handcuffs.

“How the hell do these things work?” Comic asked. They were very unlike his own world’s handcuffs; these were more bulky, with a much more complicated lock. They didn’t even have a chain, simply being fused together for even less of a possibility for arms to move comfortably. 

“Lemme see ‘em,” Red said, nudging the other out of the way to get a better view. “Shit. I dunno how to unlock these.”

“Why not?” Comic asked in response, voice slightly panicked.

“Because I’ve never been a royal guard,” Red answered. “I only know the  _ basic  _ cuffs, not  _ these  _ things! Fell can get ‘em, I think, but he’s  _ kinda  _ occupied right now.”

“OKAY, I DON’T CARE IF IT’S RIGHT NOW OR IN SEVERAL HOURS,” Rus stated impatiently, “AS LONG AS YOU CAN GET THESE THINGS  _ OFF,  _ I’LL BE HAPPY.”

Suddenly, Blue came running towards them, only shouting a short warning before magic came crashing down behind him from two guards who weren’t currently fighting against Fell. 

“Oh yeah,” Red growled as he ran away from the onslaught of magic, “run towards the two lazies and handcuffed guy to get away from danger!  _ That’s  _ a smart idea!”

“I was already running this way and you just happened to be there!!” Blue shouted back as he ducked under an attack that would have otherwise hit him in the face. “I didn’t  _ try  _ to put you guys in danger!”

“So you just didn’t see us?” Red asked, voice packed with doubt. “Somehow, I find that hard to believe.”

“ _ Not  _ the time to argue, guys!” Comic reminded. He helped his brother, who had fallen over from lack of arms to catch himself with, up from the ground.

 

* * *

 

At this point, Razz and Alphys were at near hand-to-hand combat. Alphys stuck to her large axe, while Razz had chosen a simple sword made of bone. The difference in weapons made the battle more difficult, of course, but neither of them really cared, fighting with ambition and desperation for their own lives.

 

Time slowed as they moved to strike at the same time.

 

Razz’s arms raised, ready to bring the sharp blade down with force, while Alphys’ went to the side, taking advantage of the opening.

 

* * *

 

“I DON’T-” Fell paused as he barely blocked an oncoming attack- “NEED ANY HELP, DAMMIT!”

“I beg to differ!” Blue shouted back, still trying to keep his own attackers at bay.

“Not that I doubt your abilities, man,” Stretch, who had finally gotten off his lazy ass and  _ insisted  _ to help, disclaimed, “but there are like, seven of them, and only one of you.”

“I’VE TAKEN ON MORE THAN THIS BEFORE!”

“But were those highly trained monsters with the intent to kill?”

“ALRIGHT, IF YOU WANT TO BE A SMART-ASS, DO IT AT A  _ DISTANCE  _ INSTEAD OF WITHIN EARSHOT, LIKE BLUE.”

“I’m  _ not _ being a smart aleck!” Blue denied. Even in combat, he refused to curse. Fucker.

Stretch had apparently taken the hint, though. He led some guards away from Fell and fought them on his own, his speed surprising them long enough to land several good hits. 

With only three royal guards to fight instead of seven, Fell was glad for the easier battle, though he wouldn’t admit it. While he was outnumbered, he used his old training skills to keep track of all of them. One was on his right, trying and failing to dodge speedy bones of different sizes, one was in front of him, attacking with vigor, and one was…

Wait, where was the third one?

Suddenly, a large blade came down on his right shoulder. He cried out, bumping directly into the monster on his right as he attempted to move a second too late. He tried to ignore the searing pain and continue dodging the attacks from his front, but he hadn’t been injured like this in  _ years.  _ He got significantly slower, got hit with more and more attacks. He felt an even worse pain in his leg, and didn’t even realize he was falling until he was already on the ground.

Before the guards could kill him, though, a loud scream ran through the air.

 

* * *

 

An axe clattered as it hit the ground before dissipating completely.

 

Alphys clutched her bicep, the only unarmored part of her body that wasn’t her face, with wide eyes. There was blood flowing out of a large gash that had cut extremely deep. She wheezed, occasionally letting a whimper out, despite her dignity.

 

Razz, meanwhile, breathed heavily as he gripped the side of his ribs. There was a sizable crack there, no doubt. He felt the wetness of blood in staining his shirt. He was still able to keep hold of his sword, though his grasp was weaker than it was previously. The crowd, who he had completely forgotten about until now, was complete chaos. Some were cheering, some were booing, and some were chanting, wanting him to take her life.

 

He was almost tempted.

 

* * *

 

Slim stared at the battle, unsure of what to do. He hadn’t fought the entire time, like a fucking  _ coward,  _ and now his brother was hurt. He was sure he spotted Fell go down a few seconds prior, as well. All he could do was stand where he was, pissed at himself for doing nothing to help. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t get himself to move. His stupid  _ “fear”  _ or whatever was much too great.

 

The fire that rained down over everyone didn’t help much.

 

* * *

 

Razz shouted in alarm as flames danced through the clearing, doing the best he could to dodge. Alphys wasn’t quick enough; her enhanced screams were clear evidence. He noticed Fell on the ground, having been abandoned by the guards he was fighting, clutching his shoulder with his eyes shut tight. His leg was bent at an odd angle, preventing him from getting away from the magic that was approaching. If he took it head on, even with his defense at maximum, he would very likely die. 

He hadn’t noticed he’d started running towards the other until he was already halfway there.

Once he got there, he promptly raised a wall of bones, of which the flames smashed into instead. He was about to ask Fell if he was alright, but the chaos in the clearing abruptly stopped. He looked around cautiously, not trusting the sudden silence. He could feel his adrenaline wearing off, slowly coming to full realization of the pain in his ribs. Running as fast as possible didn’t appear to have helped him much. 

He stiffened as Queen Toriel walked out of the crowd, glaring at everyone within the area. She faced toward him, causing his soul to begin thumping in his chest.  _ Don’t show fear,  _ he told himself,  _ you’ll look like a coward. _

“My, my, Sans,” she remarked, yet still keeping her distance to where he stood, “what a comeback! I have to admit, I had thought you were dead all these years.” 

“I’m alive and better than ever, unlike you,” he growled. A hushed gasp went through the crowd.  _ No one  _ spoke to the queen that way.

“Heightened courage as well, hmm?” Toriel pointed out. “That will be your downfall.”

Behind her, Razz spotted Comic frantically signing him a message.

“(Distract her, move around,)” he signed. “(Need get Fell. Rus can carry after losing cuffs.)”

He obviously wasn’t the most fluent, but the taller got the message. Still gripping his wound, he began to move slowly around the clearing. 

“I’d say it’s an upgrade, actually,” he said. His voice was strained. “I kinda beat the shit out of your most valuable royal guard, after all.”

“Actually, that’s what I want to discuss,” the queen said, her voice smooth. “Before you disappeared, you were only her second-in-command. But now, you’ve defeated her, and she will require amputation of that arm of hers. As you know, we cannot have a cripple in charge of our guard, now can we? Naturally, I have a proposition for you.”

He had a feeling he already knew where this was going.

“Would you like to be the captain of the royal guard instead?”

_ Yes. _

Yes, that was what he had wanted ever since his mother died, ever since he was half the age he was now. And now it was right there, just within his reach. He  _ could  _ fulfill his dream, the chance was  _ right there- _

“Tempting, isn’t it?” Toriel asked, slight amusement in her voice. She must have noticed the intense look of  _ hell yes  _ in his face, even if he was doing his best to keep his expression blank. “All that power right in front of you, ready for taking. You wouldn’t even need to do much!”   


He realized that he had stopped moving, and continued his pace.

“What…” He hesitated. “What do I need to do?”

“It’s easy!” She responded, a sly smile on her face. “Simply help the guard capture these…  _ Imposters  _ that your brother seems to have brought along with him. Perhaps we can even spare  _ him  _ if you cooperate.”

Oh.

Well, shit.

He could turn in his closest friends, and the brother he hated his entire life up until only two years ago would be spared. He would become captain of the royal guard. He would be respected and feared synonymously throughout the entire monster species.

But his friends would be dead.

If he didn’t take up the offer, there was a very small chance of anyone escaping with their lives. If they  _ did  _ escape, they wouldn’t ever be able to return, because they would be wanted criminals, just as Slim was. 

He glanced at Fell, who was now being held by a cuff-free Rus. They were both staring at him cautiously, although Fell’s expression was tense with pain. The magic-blockers were on the ground next to them.

Well, the plan he thought up was just  _ bound  _ to be fun with his broken ribs.

As he made his way over to where the two stood, Rus looked ready to run at any second. Razz hoped the skeleton knew his way around, because he would no doubt bolt away at top speed the second he launched an attack. As he approached, he picked up the handcuffs, and considered all that he was about to do. 

He summoned a few sharpened bones, pointed toward the pair.

“Go,” he whispered. 

He turned around and forced the bones through the queen’s armor. 

The crowd erupted into mayhem yet again as she cried out, the projectiles dissipating one at a time.

“Get out of here!” He shouted to the others as he barely dodged the magic that had been flung back his way. Rus and Fell were already gone, thankfully, and at his word, everyone else had begun to flee as well.

Everyone except for Blue, anyway.

“I said  _ go!!”  _ He yelled again as the taller skeleton came to his side.

“Absolutely  _ not!”  _ Blue said back. “I’m not just gonna leave you here to die alone!!”

“Me neither,” Slim said, joining the two. Razz hadn’t even  _ noticed  _ that he was still there. He was even  _ more  _ shocked that the other looked ready to kick ass and get his ass kicked at the exact same time. “”I-I’m not gonna let you d-die without me, dammit.”

“You’re both fucking  _ idiots!” _ He exclaimed, jumping out of the way of a large flame.

**_“We know!”_ ** They said in unison.

 

* * *

 

As soon as Razz had turned on Queen Toriel, Rus had teleported straight to the basement. Okay, no, he jumped to Hotland, then the garbage dump, then Snowdin, and  _ then  _ the basement, but he had enough pent up magic to still have plenty of energy left. He opened the door to the machine and rushed inside, while still doing his best not to hurt the wounded skeleton he was carrying. 

“YOU’RE GOING TO BE ALRIGHT,” he assured. The machine was already warmed up, despite having been off when the group arrived. Fell was too busy trying to remain conscious to point that out. Rus pressed the button.

A few seconds went by.

“UM.. ISN’T SOMETHING SUPPOSED TO BE HAPPENING?” Rus asked.

The door opened, and Undyne and Alphys, the  _ nicer  _ ones, looked at them from outside.

“Holy shit, what  _ happened?!”  _ Undyne asked, holding the door as they got out.

“WHERE’S THE NEAREST BOSS MONSTER?” He asked, too bent on helping Fell to answer her question.

“A-Asgore’s just down the str-street,” Alphys answered. “H-he left something at our house, I th-think.”

Before she could say much else, they were all in the kitchen of the couple’s home.

“ASGORE! HEAL!! NOW! PLEASE!!” Rus yelled, startling the monster. As he came more to his senses, he rushed over to Rus and Fell.

“Oh my goodness, what happened?” He asked, face filling with worry. He set a flower pot he had been holding down onto the counter. “Actually- don’t answer that yet! Put him on the couch, it’ll make the healing process easier.”

He did as told, although didn’t move very far from his sharper counterpart after laying him down. Fell drew in a breath as the boss monster placed a large hand onto his shoulder.

“Do not worry,” Asgore assured, “This will only take a minute.”

As green magic flowed from his hand, the skeleton relaxed. 

“So, I have to ask,” the king began, “what happened to cause injuries such as these?”

“WE…  _ I  _ GOT INTO SOME TROUBLE, AND EVERYONE ELSE WAS ROPED INTO IT,” Rus explained. “I’M PRETTY SURE HE WAS ATTACKED BY THREE PEOPLE AT ONCE.”

“Yikes,” Undyne remarked. “Wait, where’s everyone else?”

His eyes widened, and he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

 

**_DIALING…_ **

**_DIALING…_ **

 

_ “Oh, thank god. You had me worried for a sec, bro.” _

 

He sighed in relief at the sound of his brother’s voice.

 

“I WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU, TOO! I DIDN’T KNOW IF YOU FOLLOWED AFTER ME OR NOT!” He responded.

_ “Fell doing okay?” _

“YEAH, HE’S GETTING HEALED RIGHT NOW!”

 

Some voices asked something in the background.

 

_ “How ‘bout Blue and Slim? They’re with ya, right?” _

“UM, NO…” He grew worried. “ARE THEY NOT WITH YOU?”

_ “...No.” _

 

* * *

 

Razz leapt out of the way as an explosion of fire lit up the ground where he was previously standing. The crowd had fled by now, as well as the royal guards, for fear of being caught on fire. The disorderly way of attacking the queen had was appalling, really, how she didn’t truly  _ aim,  _ but merely flung her magic in the vague direction of her victim. She was likely fighting in a blind rage, of course, due to being skewered by several bones, but he figured the most feared monster alive would at least have some  _ strategy.  _

He was getting slower by the minute, the pain in his ribs getting worse and worse. He wasn’t sure how he managed to stay up for so long, even with the high pain tolerance passionates came with. It didn’t help that Toriel  _ knew  _ this, too, and that she was obviously targeting him. Every time he would jump to one side, he’d barely be able to avoid another attack. Slim and Blue were doing their best to attack her, but Blue was never a royal guard, and Slim had never had any kind of training. All they could do was attack her legs and hope she’d trip so that Razz could try to get the cuffs onto her wrists. 

Instead, it turned out,  _ he  _ was the one falling, because he suddenly lost his balance. He saw the shadow of the queen behind him, and turned himself around. The pain had gotten even  _ worse,  _ and he found he couldn’t find the strange to get up. The queen’s eyes flashed with malevolence as she readied a large flame.

 

Suddenly, a shrill whine came from her left, and she was engulfed in a white light. 

 

Once it subsided, she was on her knees and coughing, looking as if she had just had a cooking accident.

 

The blast itself had only taken one HP, but it  _ kept going down.  _

 

Razz looked to where it had come from, and was surprised to see Slim standing there with his arm outstretched, though there was no sign of what could have let out a beam so destructive. He looked equally as surprised, his eye widened as far as it could possibly go. 

“Holy  _ shit,”  _ he exclaimed, looking at his hand in awe. “I didn’t even know I could  _ do  _ that.”

Blue, thankfully, snapped them both out of their shocked state.

“Razz!” He yelled. “The handcuffs!”

He tried to push himself up, but was stopped by a sharp pain going through his side. Oh right, he had a huge crack in his ribs and was currently bleeding quite a lot. Why wasn’t he dead yet?

“Catch!” He said as he tossed the cuffs toward the other Sans. Toriel’s soul was turned blue, and she was held down as her HP slowly decreased. Blue cautiously made his way over.

“Uh,” he hesitated, looking at the cuffs in confusion, “how do these work?”

Sighing, Razz explained.

Luckily, it only took a few tries before they were secure enough that she wouldn’t escape without needing the help of another monster.

 

“Okay, now let’s get the hell outta here!” Razz said. They helped him up, supporting him by the arms as they teleported to the basement.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS CHAPTER FEELS SO SHORT AAAAA
> 
> I WROTE IT ALL IN ONE WEEKEND BC I REALIZED IT'S BEEN OVER A WEEK SINCE THE LAST UPDATE OO PS I HAVE NO CLUE IF IT'S GOOD OR NOT
> 
> SORRY FOR BEING SHIT I GOTTA START REPLYING TO COMMENTS AGAIN


	10. Speed?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two skeletons begin to remember.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALRIGHT SO QUIck warning: there be some self harm references in this chapter and if that stuff is Bad for you i recommend being prepared or like,, not reading sorry
> 
> it really pisses me off how people antagonize Fell without even considering how he could've grown up like,, lookit all the angst opportunities people come on

**“You said we would be closer.”**

“I-..I must have calculated wrong! We’ll be there eventually!”

**“We were supposed to be there** **_now._ ** **They’ll remember us before we even arrive.”**

“It may be delayed!”

_ “If he dies because of you, my son will be sad and I will be thoroughly pissed.” _

**_“Isn’t the dying one your son, too?”_ **

_ “I care about him significantly less.” _

**_“Yeah, remind me to, like, never let you around either of my sons ever. You fellverses are gross.”_ **

**“Fuck off, I just want to get back to my lab.”**

_ “There’s mud in my shoes and I hate all of you.” _

 

* * *

 

As soon as they stepped out of the machine, Razz collapsed.

“Woah-!” Slim exclaimed under the sudden increase of weight. Blue tripped, and the skeleton they had been trying to support spilled onto the ground. He had, apparently, passed out.

“I can do a fireman’s carry,” Blue said, picking Razz up and proving his statement. His phone rang and, using his free arm, he picked it up. He put it on speaker for convenience.

_ “Oh thank god,”  _ Stretch’s voice said through the speaker.  _ “Where’ve you been, bro? You didn’t come back with us.” _

“We were beating up Queen Toriel,” Blue said quickly. “Where are you? Do you have a healing monster around, by chance?”   


_ “Asgore is at Undyne and Alphys’ house,”  _ he answered.  _ “But also, what? You can’t say something like that and  _ not  _ elaborate!” _

“No time. Bye!”

_ “Wait Sans-” _

He hung up the phone, and ran out the door. Slim hesitated for only a second before following, not sure how he would face the king for the first time after having just blown up his ex-wife.

 

* * *

 

Rus stared at his phone screen, face twisted in confusion as he read the text.

 

**7:17 PM**

**Stretch:** blube

 

Stretch, what the heck.

 

His questions were answered- though not very clearly- by Blue kicking through the door.

“ASGORE!!” He yelled. “HEAL!! PLEASE! NOW!”

Only about five minutes later, Razz was on the couch next to Fell. While Razz was unconscious, Fell was wide awake, recounting the entire fight with quite a few made-up details.

“AND THEN I WAS LIKE ‘I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET’ AND PULLED THEM BACK AND THEY CRIED AND I KICKED THEIR ASSES EASILY AND EVEN SAW SOME OF THEM  _ RUN AWAY  _ AND THEN MORE CAME BECAUSE TWENTY WASN’T ENOUGH TO TAKE ME DOWN AND I KICKED THEIR ASSES TOO AND THEN A BUNCH OF-” He gasped for breath, before continuing- “NINJAS CAME AND THEY HAD SAMURAI SWORDS AND THEY WERE ACTUALLY REALLY REALLY BAD SO I BROKE MY  _ OWN  _ LEG AND THEN I STOLE A SWORD AND PUT IT THROUGH MY SHOULDER SO IT WOULD BE A- haRDER FIGHT AND- AND-”

He took a few seconds to come up with a way to keep making himself sound more and more badass.

“AND I DID ALL THAT IN  _ PLATFORM BOOTS.” _

He kicked out a leg to show off his shoe, which had been taken off. He showed off his skull-printed sock instead.

“What’s u-up with him?” Slim asked, slightly freaked out.

“HE GOT A BIT TOO MUCH HEALING MAGIC,” Rus explained. “THAT STUFF GIVES YOU A  _ LOT  _ OF ENERGY.”

“So, i-it’s basically like he’s o-on speed, but also drunk,” he suggested.

“SPEED?”

“Uh-”

“Wait, where’s Red?” Blue interrupted, looking around. “Shouldn’t he be here, considering his brother almost died?”

“HE WENT OUT WITH THE OTHERS TO LOOK FOR YOU THREE,” Fell answered quickly. “I DIDN’T REALLY GET TO SEE HIS REACTION TO ME DYING BECAUSE I WAS TRYING NOT TO DIE.”

“H-he just-  _ left  _ you here? While you were hurt?” Slim asked, bewildered.

“PRETTY MUCH, BUT I’M USED TO IT!” He attempted to wave off the concern, but only succeeded in making it worse. “WHY DO YOU THINK I HAVE SO MANY SCARS? MOST OF THEM ARE BADASS, BUT SOME OF THEM ARE ALSO REALLY, REALLY STUPID. LIKE THE ONES ON MY AR-”

“OH-KAY!” Rus intervened before it could go further. Fell was  _ never  _ this open about his relationships with anyone,  _ especially  _ not his brother. Once he calmed down and began thinking straight again, he would likely be mortified. “LET’S TALK ABOUT THIS LATER, MAYBE?”

“But-”

_ “Sans I swear you are damn awful,”  _ Stretch said, opening the door and storming in. “Who the fuck just calls someone like ‘oh hey we need a healing monster right now because we fought the queen’ and  _ hangs up?!  _ Like, wow, that isn’t worrying  _ at all! Especially  _ not when I’m in the middle of searching  _ everywhere  _ and hoping you aren’t fucking  _ dead,  _ no, I wasn’t worried even a little bit!”

“I told you I didn’t have time!” Blue responded, laughing slightly at his brother’s ranting. He sounded like a parent scolding his child, despite being the younger brother.

“Were you incapable of calling back once you got here?”

“Woah, don’t fight,” Red said, walking in after Stretch with Comic at his side. “One of ya might end up stormin’ out and goin’ t’Underfell.”

His joke didn’t gain any laughs. In fact, all he got was a stern glare from Blue.

 

“Uh…” He hesitated, looking to the side. “What’s that look for?”

“HERE WE GO,” Rus sighed.

“Fell was  _ deathly hurt,”  _ Blue began, voice unnaturally tense, “and you  _ left  _ him here?”

“I uh-” Red stammered, not having expected to be called out. “I figured he could handle it. I knew he wouldn’t die.”

“HIS HP WAS AT, LIKE, FIVE WHEN WE GOT HERE, BUT OK,” Rus pointed out, slightly peeved himself.

“This has happened  _ multiple times,  _ too!” Blue said. “He’ said he’s  _ used  _ to it! And that that’s the reason he has so many scars!”

“GUYS, THIS REALLY ISN’T SUCH A BIG D-”

_ “IT’S A BIG DEAL,”  _ Rus and Blue both insisted, cutting off Fell’s objection. 

 

* * *

 

Hostile, muffled voices argued in the background of Razz’s mind as he slept.

They reminded him of a memory that wasn’t there before. Of a mental image that he didn’t remember seeing.

Two figures, one short, one tall, yelling at each other as a baby cried in another room.

One was familiar, while the other was someone he didn’t recognize.

As the dream became more clear, though, he could see.

 

He remembered.

 

* * *

 

“You’re always so caught up in work!” Mom yelled, staring up at her husband’s glaring face. “You don’t offer  _ any  _ help around the house, you don’t even give a  _ damn  _ about our kids!”

“Who is supposed to pay the bills, woman?” Dad shouted back. He was always scary when he was mad. “You don’t even have a job! Would you rather be poor? My money is the only thing you care about, even if you don’t want to admit it. The kids would be better off without your greedy ass!”

Sans watched from the cracked door of his bedroom, wishing he could get to his screaming brother, who was across the house. Ironic, how the couple was fighting about the wellbeing of their two children, but didn’t seem to actually provide comfort when the toddler was in need of food. Or maybe he was simply woken by the screaming, just as his 8-year-old brother was. Ten minutes ago.

After a few more minutes, he closed his door, went back to his bed, and put the pillow over where his ears would be. Maybe, just  _ maybe,  _ he could block out the noise and get some sleep for once.

 

Thankfully, he felt himself drifting off to sleep.

 

* * *

 

“It’s just a fellverse thing,” Red stated.

“I-it isn’t,” Slim objected, albeit hesitantly. “I literally j-just fought the queen of m-monsters so that he wouldn’t d-die alone.”

“Okay, well,” he paused, starting to run out of ways to defend himself, “It’s just different for us, kay? We didn’t grow up close.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” Blue said flatly.

Razz moved, murmuring something as he slowly opened his eyes. 

“ALRIGHT, EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP,” Fell spoke up. “RAZZ IS AWAKE I THINK!”

Yawning, the skeleton in question sat up. He was relieved to feel that the pain in his ribs was no more. He felt more energetic than usual, but not nearly as much as Fell, who was currently bouncing on the couch. If one of his legs weren’t put in a makeshift splint, he would have likely been running around the room at top speed. It was kind of weird, however, that both the sitting skeletons were shirtless.

“Hey, bro,” Slim said, seeming more relieved than usual. “You, uh, d-doin’ okay?”

“For the most part, yes,” Razz answered. “Where’s my shirt?”

“IT WAS COVERED IN BLOOD SO IT HAD TO BE TAKEN OFF,” Fell explained. “IT LOOKED AWESOME, BUT SMELLED REALLY, REALLY GROSS!!”

“What’s wrong with him.”

“ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!!” Fell yelled. “I LITERALLY HAVEN’T FELT THIS GREAT IN YEARS!!”

“No, seriously,” he turned to the others. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Lotsa healing magic,” Comic sighed. “He’s actin’ like my bro after a few too many cups of coffee.”

“HEY!” Rus protested. “THAT WAS  _ ONE  _ TIME!!”

“On the bright side,” Stretch stated, “Looks’ like Asgore gave you the right amount. You’ll still need to keep it bandaged for a while, though.”

He looked at the bandages wrapped around his chest. They were uncomfortable, but it wasn’t like he could do much about that. He felt something on his face, and reached up to feel the wide band-aid that had been placed under his eye socket. Well, at least his brother wouldn’t be alone in the facial-scar department. 

“THE TEA’S READY!” Undyne yelled from the kitchen. “COME GET IT WHILE IT’S HOT, BITCHES!”

Fell made an attempt to stand up, but was stopped by Rus pushing him back down.

“I CAN WALK TO THE KITCHEN MYSELF!” He insisted.

“NO, YOU  _ LITERALLY  _ CAN’T,” Rus denied. “I’LL GET IT, SO JUST STAY SEATED, OKAY?”

Despite the other’s complaints, he went for the kitchen. Razz, who  _ could  _ walk, thankfully, followed along with the rest of the skeletons. 

 

* * *

 

Fell was left alone. 

 

He fidgeted with his hands, tapped his non-fucked-up foot, did anything he could to expel his excess energy, but it hardly did anything. He was already aware that he had overshared plenty in his near-drunken state, but couldn’t exactly do anything about it. He wasn’t thinking straight, after all. 

All he could think of at the moment, was how much the Swapfell brothers seemed to  _ care  _ about each other. Hell, they had  _ fought  _ their own  _ queen  _ together.

 

Why did the thought alone make him feel so bad?

 

Was it jealousy? Was it just his stupid mind forcing him to be an asshole again, for literally no reason other than to make him hate when others were happy?

 

Really, it could’ve easily been both.

 

* * *

 

“A royal guard should never be injured this easily.”

 

Papyrus stared at his feet as the doctor glared at his bleeding arm, doing nothing to heal it in any way.

“How old are you again? Ten?” He asked, although it wasn’t really much of a question. “I thought you would’ve gotten over this phase of yours by now.”

“Sorry,” the smaller skeleton spoke, his voice timorous.

“A royal guard does not apologise,” the scientist scolded. “And how many times have I told you to stop talking so quietly? No one will take you seriously if you keep acting like a mouse.”

He was hardly able to swallow another apology before his brother walked into the room, mustard bottle in hand.

“Oh boy,” the older asked as he saw the scene. “How’d he fuck up this time?”

The doctor held up his son’s arm, displaying it to the other. He then let go as his phone rang, walking to a separate room to answer. Once he left, Papyrus looked up to see a smug grin on his brother’s face.

“Wow,” Sans remarked, walking over. “You really did a number on yourself this time, huh?”

He didn’t respond.

“Y’know, Dad would probably like you a lot more if you were actually  _ useful.  _ Instead, you’re just a huge disappointment. All that potential, and you won’t even hurt a moldsmal.”

The mentioned skeleton re-entered the room, making his way for the door.

“I have business to attend to,” the scientist said. “Sans, you’re in charge while I’m gone.”

“Yessir,” he responded, putting up a thumbs up.

Once the doctor left, Papyrus ran for his room before his older brother could initiate another game of “War.”

 

* * *

 

Woah.

 

Where… Where did that memory come from?

 

His vague feeling of dread still hung over him as Rus came back to the couch with two cups filled with tea, and he suddenly felt much less energized.

Rus seemed to notice the sudden lack of movement coming from Fell, and grew slightly concerned as he handed him the tea.

“UM,” he hesitated, “IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT, CINNAMON?”

“Oh-” Fell shook his head in an attempt to clear it, “YeAH, YEAH I’M FINE. I GUESS I’M JUST KIND OF- CRASHING??”

“OH, OKAY!” 

It was obvious the other didn’t really believe him, especially since he was squeezing his forearm so hard it was a miracle it didn’t snap, but thankfully didn’t say anything. He felt he would be staying at the Undertale house that night anyway, so it would’ve been better to talk then.

He glanced at his bandages.

A royal guard should never be injured this easily.

 

* * *

 

“Sir, I-I really appreciate your kindness,” Slim stuttered, backed up as far away from the king sa possible, “but I  _ seriously  _ can’t help but be r- _ really  _ scared right now.”

“That’s quite alright!” Asgore responded, smiling patiently. “I understand you’ve been through some… things. Everything takes time, so I certainly don’t expect you to warm up to me so easily!”

“S-Sans help he’s too fucking nice,” he pleaded, grabbing his brother by the arm.

 

While it was true that the tallest skeleton’s courage had been heightened after everything, he still had a  _ long  _ way to go before truly adjusting to his new life.

 

And he was ready to deal with it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter feels like an absolute disaster lmao
> 
> it's,, so short,,,,,
> 
> I think I might end the work here and like,, build a series of works around it
> 
> shorter, slice-of-life style things that all take place before, during, or after this whole story
> 
> what do y'all think?


	11. Oh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _HI GUESS WHO'S ALIVE LMAO_
> 
> Sorry for not updating in nearly a month, I just meant to take a one-week break and it lasted a lot longer than it was supposed to haha whoops
> 
> I wrote this in the span of about two weeks??? And tbh I'm not sure how much I like it but heyy it was kinda fun to write
> 
> I!! Actually started two different stories in the time I've been out of motivation for this particular thing!! And they might go out soon but probably not!!!!
> 
> One of them is about as Original™ as this is, since it's dealing with Flowey possession shit lmao
> 
> Tell me if you'd be interested or nah, even if I don't have the first chapter done yet oo ps
> 
> ANYWAY I'M RAMBLING STORY TIME

**“What the hell do you mean we’re** **_lost?”_ **

“I mean we’re lost. There isn’t much subtext there.” 

_“Why didn’t we spawn in the labs, again?”_

**“Because** **_someone_ ** **decided to live in the asscrack of a mountain.”**

“How was I supposed to know where I nearly died, huh? It’s not like we’ve escaped the void before!” 

**_“Can we just stop for a nap break? I wanna nap.”_ **

 

* * *

 

After nearly an hour of trying to get Slim to trust Asgore, Undyne, and Alphys, Rus decided it was time for Fell to get some rest. 

“HE’S PRACTICALLY ALREADY ASLEEP!” He insisted, despite the injured skeleton constantly stating he’d be fine. 

“It _is_ getting late, I suppose,” Asgore said. “Although I’ve really never seen someone _crash_ after receiving too much healing.” 

Fell truly didn’t need rest, that much was a lie on Rus’s end. What he _needed_ was a pen. Or an ice cube. Or a knife.  

No, no. None of that kind of thinking anymore. Apparently it wasn’t _“healthy.”_ The knife part, anyway. Rus had actually been proud of him for using ice and art as alternatives, and dammit, Rus was the only person he wanted to impress anymore. He didn’t even _care_ about making his lazy-ass-piece-of-shit-brother proud-

 

* * *

 

“Kill it.”

 

Papyrus stared at the moldsmal in front of him. He looked back at his brother, hardly able to believe what he was being asked to do.

 

Not long beforehand, Sans had said he was in need for some extra training. He’d said he was going to be in the guard, whether he wanted to or not.

They had walked together to Waterfall, and spent nearly five minutes searching for a weak monster.

Papyrus had found the moldsmal, and Sans told him to attack. He did so without hesitation, beating the poor slime to the point of 1 HP.

 

“Well?” His brother asked impatiently. “You gonna prove yourself, or what?”

 

He looked back at the pitiful monster. It was completely defenseless, it probably didn’t even understand what was happening.

 

He didn’t kill it. He _couldn’t_ kill it.

 

He jumped back a few feet as bones pierced through it anyway.

 

“Honestly, you’re fuckin’ pathetic.”

 

Sans’s LV increased.

 

“Come on, Dad’ll be home soon. Then we can tell him _all about_ how much of a shit guard you’re gonna be. Hey, maybe he’ll even kick ya out. God, I hope so!”

 

* * *

 

“CINNAMON!” Rus said, his voice gentle yet loud at the same time. “WAKE UP!”

 

Fell blinked his eyes open, surprised to find himself lying down on the other’s racecar bed. He sat up, looking around his surroundings. How the hell did he go from Undyne’s couch to Rus’s bed without even noticing?

He felt something on his face.

“WHY’S MY FACE WET?” He asked. “AND HOW THE HELL DID I GET HERE?” 

“YOU-UH-PASSED OUT. ALSO-” he lowered his voice- “We’re alone at the moment. You can talk normally if you want to!” 

“Alright,” he responded, lowering his volume as well. It sounded… wrong. He hadn’t talked like that in _forever._ “Care to elaborate on the ‘passing out’ thing? And why my face is wet?” 

“You passed out while I was convincing the others you needed a rest,” Rus explained, laughing a tiny bit. “It worked pretty well to prove my point! Anyway, I brought you back here, went downstairs to find some art things I bought recently, and I just came back and you were crying?? So I woke you up and now we’re here!”

“...I don’t cry,” Fell denied, wiping some tears from his face. “Art things?” 

Some markers, a sketchbook, and several pencils were plopped down onto his lap. 

“I had a feeling you’d want to… vent, once you woke up.”

Sighing, the bedridden skeleton put the book to the side and began doodling meaningless lines on his forearm instead.

 

“...Thanks.”

 

* * *

 

“It should take quite a while to adjust, and you certainly won’t be likely to while I’m still in town,” Asgore assured, allowing Slim to keep his distance.

“Aw, what?” Undyne asked, sounding disappointed. “I thought you guys were visiting for more than just a month!”

“We are,” he responded. “A month and a half. In about a week from now, we have a trip to Japan.” 

“T-take us with you,” Alphys pleaded. _“Please.”_  

“Wait, what’s g-going on?” Slim asked his brother, who had been kind enough to stay by his side. The other gave him a questioning look before realizing what he meant. 

“Oh, right. You don’t know,” Razz said. “Every few months, Asgore, Frisk, Toriel and Rus travel to some different country. It’s to keep things ‘peaceful’ or whatever. Political shit.”

“Oh,” he exclaimed. “Rus is into politics?” 

“He’s the mascot for all monsters.” 

_“Oh.”_  

“Yeah, my reaction was the same when I found out.” 

“Good choice, huh?” Comic suddenly asked, causing the pair to jump as he teleported behind them. “He tends to give monsters a pretty good rep.” 

_“Why_ do you insist on teleporting everywhere, dear _fuck,”_ Razz sighed, gripping his chest slightly.  

“‘Cuz it freaks you out.” 

Comic received a proper impolite gesture. 

“Hey Sans,” Undyne spoke up. “Why aren’t you with Pap right now? Weren’t you, like, flippin’ your shit while he was missing?”

“I wanna be, trust me,” he answered. “I’m pretty sure he wanted to talk with Fell first, though. Probably babyin’ ‘im as we speak.” 

“Bro, that’s your third cup o’ joe,” Stretch pointed out as Blue got himself some more coffee. “I think ya might need to chill a bit before you drink it all.” 

“I’ve just been feeling a lot more tired, and I hate sleeping, so I think I _will_ drink it all!” Blue retorted, sipping from his mug. His hands were shaking. 

“Sans, this isn’t our house.” 

_“Coffee.”_  

“Everyone has their own addiction,” Razz pointed out, nudging his brother in the side.

 

* * *

 

“You’re remembering stuff?”

“Yeah,” Fell confirmed. Rus didn’t seem to get it right away. “Stuff about… About parents.” 

“Oh,” the other said, finally understanding. “If you feel unsafe-” 

“NO, no, I feel safe here, don’t worry about _that,”_ he interrupted. “Just… The memories aren’t very _happy.”_

The curvy red lines grew longer as they wrapped around his arm, occasionally coloring the cracks and grooves in the bone.

“What about you?”

Rus looked at him in surprise, not having expected the question. 

“What about me?” He asked. 

“Ru-...Saffron, you just went through actual hell. Don’t do the ‘mom friend’ thing where you take care of everyone but yourself.” 

“I’m okay,  though!” He insisted. “I never even got hurt!” 

Fell gestured to the marks showing from under the other’s short sleeves. 

“You just got those burns from nowhere, then?” He asked. His voice was flat. Rus tugged the sleeves down as much as he could, but only succeeded in showing off more of his collarbone, which was _also_ burnt. “What the hell happened to you?” 

“I-I just got a little bit electrocuted, it’s fine,” Rus said. “It’s fine.” 

“It is _not_ fine!” Fell objected. “You-” 

 

“It’s. _Fine.”_  

 

The injured skeleton stopped, his marker held in place.

 

“Sorry, I just-” Rus sighed. “I’m not the one to worry about right now. I don’t have a broken leg, or a hardly-intact shoulder. I’m only remembering good things. I _don’t_ need any help right now, and _you_ certainly don’t need to stress yourself thinking that I do, alright?”

“...Okay,” Fell agreed, albeit reluctantly. “You said you’re remembering things?” 

“Yeah, same as you, I guess,” he nodded. “Happier things.” 

“Somehow, I’m not surprised.” 

There was a long silence as Fell’s arm grew more and more red.

 

* * *

 

“You’re _positive_ you’ll be alright on your own?” Blue asked, hesitant to leave Razz’s front door.

“I’m sure,” the other assured. “Seriously, I’ve had worse than this shit. I probably just need some wine, or something.” 

“Ooh! If you’re stressed, you should listen to those playlists I sent you the other day!” He stated, jumping slightly on his toes. “Napstablook worked really hard to make them, and they’re actually really good!”

“Maybe I’ll give them a shot,” Razz considered. “But hey, when you get home, at least _try_ to sleep, maybe? You can’t run on coffee forever.”

_“Watch me.”_  

After some more seconds of trying to convince the caffeine-fueled berry to sleep, they said their goodbyes, and Razz closed the door. 

Only moments later, Slim was giving him a shit-eating grin from his spot on the couch.

“What’s that look for?” He asked. 

“Oh, nothing,” his brother answered. He held up the other’s phone. “This lockscreen’s pretty cute, is all.”

_“GIVEMETHAT,”_ Razz demanded immediately, storming over and trying to grab the phone. Slim, the tall _bastard,_ held it out of his reach.  

“I never thought you were the type to take a selfie with your _bone-friend,”_ he teased, “but hey, looks like I was wrong!” 

_“PAPYRUS I SWEAR TO GOD.”_

 

* * *

 

Red opened the door, barely taking the time to lock it behind him before plopping himself down on the couch. 

The house was quiet, dark, and frankly, kinda lonely. 

He liked it more that way. 

As he turned on the TV, he dug a bottle of whiskey out from under the cushions.

 

He was _supposed_ to be doing better, he thought with a laugh.

 

_So what_ his brother was hurt, he’d pull through. He always did. Being there for him wouldn’t change that.

 

His home was gone, his friends were gone, Dad was-

 

Wait.

 

When had he last thought about Dad?

 

* * *

 

“Dad?” Sans asked. “If I become your apprentice, do I have to wear handcuffs in public, too?” 

“Don’t worry, son,” the doctor said, “As long as you don't attempt to commit murder one too many times, you should be fine!” 

He leaned closer, so that no one within earshot could hear but the 12-year-old skeleton himself.

“But between you and me,” he whispered, “if you take out the witnesses, no one knows just how many people you've _really_ killed.” 

It was awful, and Sans was old enough to know it. 

But if his idol was so nonchalant, was it really as bad as people made it out to be?

 

* * *

 

Red shook his head, focusing on the show in front of him. Whatever the hell _that_ might’ve been, he could save it for when he was fine being sober.

 

He lifted his bottle and drank.

* * *

  


“Somethin’ buggin’ you?” Stretch asked as soon as the door was closed.

“No, a few of my friends just almost died, it’s fine!” Blue snarked, eyes widening as he realized his own rudeness. “Sorry, it’s… been a long day.” 

“Don’t I know it,” the other agreed. “What I think we could _both_ use is some _sleep.”_  

“Papyrus, no.” 

“Papyrus, yes,” he continued. “Whenever you stay up all night, you get irritable and sick. Not to mention, the headaches make you look like you’re gonna kill someone.” 

The shorter wanted to deny the fact, but found that he couldn’t.

“...I’ve already had too much caffeine tonight to get any rest, anyway,” he pointed out. 

“I can wait ‘til ya crash. And when you do, I’ll let you read to me if you want.” 

“...I thought you grew out of that?”

“Tibi-honest,” Stretch paused, allowing his brother to acknowledge the pun, “I still like it every once in awhile. Plus, it helps you sleep, too.” 

Reluctantly agreeing to the offer, Blue took a seat on the couch. Stretch sat next to him, and turned on the TV. 

Only five minutes later, the tall, carrot-resembling skeleton was snoring lightly. 

Unable to keep the smile from his face, the older brother carried him to his room, tucked him in, and went back downstairs to turn the show off. Mettaton never interested him nearly as much as Napstaton, anyway.

 

Besides, since he already knew he’d be up until odd hours in the night, maybe he’d be able to get some productive things done!

 

Like locking himself in his room all night and reading fanfiction about his favorite video game characters!

 

* * *

 

Comic hesitated for only a second before knocking on the door before him.

“Papyrus?” He asked. “You home?” 

A few words were exchanged in the bedroom before it opened, his brother smiling down at him.

“YEP! AND VERY GLAD TO BE, TOO!” He answered. “IS THERE SOMETHING YOU NEED?”

Glancing behind him, Comic could see Fell acting like he wasn’t listening. 

“Yeah, uh,” he paused, “can we talk?”

“WE’RE TALKING RIGHT NOW.” 

“You know what I mean.” 

Sighing, Rus stepped out and closed his door behind him. Without speaking, the two went downstairs and sat across from each other on the couch. 

“Look, about what happened-” 

“IT’S FINE.” 

“...it’s fine?”

“YEAH!” The taller assured. “I’M FINE, YOU’RE FINE, FELL AND RAZZ AREN’T SO FINE BUT THEY WILL BE SOON ENOUGH!! EVERYTHING’S RESOLVED!”

Comic looked skeptical.

“Papyrus, look me in the eyes and tell me everything’s _really_ resolved,” he said. He didn’t have to be observant to notice the other’s gaze drifting off to the side, above, or somewhere different entirely while he spoke.  

 

Rus looked into his eyes.

 

“...OKAY, MAYBE NOT EVERYTHING,” he admitted. “THE STUFF THAT’S HAPPENED IN THE PAST, WHAT, TWO DAYS? WERE KINDA REALLY REALLY STRESSFUL.”

 

“Tell me about it,” his brother agreed.”Look, bro, I-...I’m really sorry. About everything. Treatin’ you like a kid, not letting you be your own _person.._ I feel like all this bull could’ve been avoided if I just-” 

“STOP THAT,” the other interrupted. “NO BLAMING YOURSELF! I ACCEPT YOUR APOLOGY FOR THE STUFF THAT MAKES SENSE, BUT WHAT _DOESN’T_ MAKE SENSE IS HOW YOU CAN CLAIM CAUSATION OF SOMETHING NO ONE HAS FIGURED OUT YET. YOU COULDN’T HAVE POSSIBLY KNOWN WHAT WOULD HAPPEN, AND IF _I_ JUST STAYED AND TALKED IT WOULDN’T HAVE HAPPENED ANYWAY.” 

“That’s a… _kinda_ contradictory statement, don’tcha think?” 

“WHATEVER. MY POINT IS-- _NONE_ OF THIS WAS YOUR FAULT, OKAY?” 

“And how do you think it was yours?”

“IF I DIDN’T RUN AWAY, IF I STAYED AND TALKED TO YOU, I’D PROBABLY BE FINE. I MEAN- I AM FINE! BUT, I _COULD_ BE MUCH MORE FINE. FINE DOESN’T SOUND LIKE A WORD ANYMORE, ACTUALLY.”

“We don’t _know_ that the running away was what caused it,” Comic pointed out. “Correlation isn’t the same as causation.” 

“BUT WHILE I WAS _THERE, I-_ I COULD’VE STAYED IN THE HOUSE! I DIDN’T _HAVE_ TO LEAVE!” 

“Why’d you leave, then?” 

“I WENT TO FIND THAT ‘TEMMIE’ RAZZ TOLD ME ABOUT. I DID FIND HER, BUT… SHE WASN’T MUCH HELP.”

“What happened?” 

“THE DOGI- WAIT, I SEE WHAT YOU’RE DOING,” Rus responded, realization finally creeping into his voice. “IF YOU WANTED ME TO GIVE YOU A PLAY-BY-PLAY OF EVERYTHING, YOU COULD’VE JUST SAID.”

“I’d like a play-by-play then, please!” The shorter requested, letting out a small laugh with no real humor behind it. “Only if you’re comfortable with it, though. If you don’t want to, I’ll live.”

“I’LL TELL MY TALE TO MY BEST ABILITY!”

 

* * *

 

Rus was good at acting like nothing was wrong.

 

Fell figured that out within only his first year away from Underfell, after he had been particularly asshole-ish for two entire months.

What he _couldn’t_ figure out, however, was _why._ What reason did the other have to hide his feelings? With Fell, it was to maintain respect and fear synonymously within his foes. Razz was the same way. Blue simply wanted the absolute best for his little brother. What was Rus, the little brother with nothing left to prove, acting okay for? He was already the mascot for monsterkind, which was a stressful job in and of itself, but to top that with being a “little bit electrocuted” and nearly killed in one day was bound to make _anyone_ cry. Hell, he’d seen _Razz_ break more than he had Rus, which was astonishing.

 

And he envied it, just like he envied everything about his nicer counterpart.

 

As he ran out of room on his left arm, he decided to put the marker down and move on to the sketchbook. Better to make shitty sketches of his own memories than let himself pass out and cry again.

 

* * *

 

After climbing into his own bed, Razz decided to see what he might’ve missed on Undernet. Not much, simply some MTT News, MTT tour dates, Season 34 of Cooking With a Killer Robot’s premiere, Alphys taking a selfie with another trash can, and a few GIFs from Mettaton’s quiz show.

What _was_ interesting, though, was that Blue’s account was online.

 

**10:17 PM**

**@BONEJUMPER89:** go the fuck to bed

**@BLUEBOI89:** three cups of coffe

**@BLUEBOI89:** stress day

**@BLUEBOI89:** fanfiction of vidgame characters

**@BLUEBOI89:** i’ll stay up and raise the sun myself

**@BLUEBOI89:** as my sON OH 

**@BONEJUMPER89:** blue i will come over there and make you sleep

**@BLUEBOI89:** I can’t tell if that;s a threat or if you’re offering to sleep with me 

**@BONEJUMPER89:** n O 

**@BLUEBOI89:** COME OVER AND JUMP MY BONES INTO SUBMISSION RAZZ

**@BONEJUMPER89:** YU OU KNOW THAT’S NOT WHAT I WAS GOIGN FOR

**@BONEJUMPER89:** YOU  C UCK

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again,, I'm really sorry for such a long break without any notice sorryyyyyy
> 
> I just felt my writing getting kinda worse so plbbtt


	12. The Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternate title: Short but Filled with Angst™
> 
> Warnings: Child abuse, lotsa yelling, implied alcoholism, & bad writing lmaO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO SHORT BUT I'VE BEEN HAVING A ROUGH TIME RECENTLY SO IT'S GOOD ENOUGH
> 
> tbh this fic is almost vent for me at this point whoops
> 
> also it might be kinda obvious who i enjoy writing the most oops
> 
> also also!!! Guess who's actually old enough to have an account now!! I was 12 when I started this but now I'm 13 woOOOO

“AND THAT’S PRETTY MUCH ALL THAT HAPPENED!” Rus finished. His brother stared at him with what could only be an expression of worry.

“Pap, I-” He began, but cut himself off. “I’m sorry. Really. You shouldn’t’ve had to go through any of this.”

“WHETHER I DESERVED IT OR NOT,” Rus stated, “IT HAPPENED. THERE’S NOTHING WE CAN DO TO CHANGE THAT.”

“Well, I mean maybe-”

_“NO.”_

“Alright, if you say so,” Comic sighed. “But hey, if you… Need to talk, or vent, or whatever, I’m here, got it? And if you catch me bein’ a dick again, lemme know.”

 

A laugh from the taller skeleton lightened the mood.

 

“OF COURSE, BROTHER!”

 

* * *

 

Fell glared at the pencil marks in front of him. Sloppy sketches of his brother, of the doctor, and himself filled the page of the sketchbook, yet none of them made _sense._ In the top right corner was Sans, wearing a labcoat and glasses, and he was _smiling._ Not a condescending smirk, not a sarcastic, shit-eating grin, but a genuine smile.

 

He didn’t remember any instance he could’ve seen _that_ in his entire life.

 

In the top left, a drawing of himself at perhaps 14 years of age wearing spiky brass knuckles over his gloves. He looked like he had just come back from a fight club, with bruises littering his bare arms, skull, even around his neck. His thin black shirt was in tatters, hardly covering his ribs and spine.

 

Between the two was the doctor.

 

He looked as if he… weren’t all there. His expression was blank, though his eyelights showed the chaos within his soul. He wore chains around his wrists, binding two tightly clenched fists close together. He looked like he could kill someone without hesitance, even if they were comparable to the strengths of King Asgore himself.

Fell could almost _hear_ the cold, cynical voice addressing him as the “worst royal guard to be.”

 

Before he realized it, he had already stabbed the pencil into the book as hard as he possibly could, ruining the pencil and the paper in the process.

 

He never even _wanted_ to be a damn royal guard.

 

* * *

 

“Papyrus, why aren’t you training?” The scientist asked, causing his son to shrink down slightly. He had found the young skeleton sitting alone in his room, scribbling on a filthy piece of paper with a worn down crayon.

“I-I just-” Papyrus stuttered, taken by surprise- “felt like taking a day off!”

Wrong answer, wrong answer, wrong wrong _wrong._

The paper was ripped away from him, tearing a small bit as he tried to keep hold.

“What is this?” The man asked, staring at the drawing with disgust. “Some kind of alligator?”

“It’s a, um,” Papyrus stated, “It’s a dog, actually.”

The doctor actually looked interested.

“Ah, now I see it!” He exclaimed, smiling. “This is what you skipped out on training to do?”

“...Kinda,” the younger answered, suspicious at the sudden cheerfulness.

“Well, let me ask you this,” he began. “Would you rather do this for a living instead of becoming a royal guard?”

He hesitated for only a second before nodding excitedly. Something in the back of his mind was telling him it was a trap, but he didn’t dare listen.

“Well, that’s astonishing!” His father responded, smiling even more brightly than before. He held the drawing as if he were going to give it back. “Because _this...”_

As Papyrus reached for the drawing, the scientist yanked it away yet again.

 

“...Is going to get you _nowhere.”_

 

The child could only watch as the paper was ripped into shreds, a piece occasionally dropping to the floor below.

 

After destroying his work, the doctor kneeled so that he could be closer to his son’s face.

“Listen, child,” he said, his voice cold. “If you decide to take a ‘day off’ again, the consequences will be dire. Do you understand me?”

Papyrus didn’t respond in time, staring at his feet and trying to shrink in on himself.

 

The doctor didn’t like that.

 

“I said-” he grabbed the smaller skeleton’s jaw in his hand, pulling it up and forcing him to look him in the eyes. _“Do you understand me?”_

 

* * *

 

**4:31 AM**

 

“Saaaaaaaaans,” Stretch groaned through the door, his eyes half closed. “Go to beeeeed.”

“I’m not tiiiiiiiiiiirreeeddd,” Blue mocked, opening his door. “What are you doing up so late?”

“Cat jumped on my face,” he answered, gesturing to the feline he was holding under his arm. “Really though, go t’bed. You’re gonna be miserable in th’morning.”

 _“You’re already_ miserable, Papyrus,” the shorter retorted. “I think you need to go to bed a bit more than I do!”

_“Saaaaans.”_

“Really, I’ll be fine. Go back to bed before you pass out in the hallway!”

 

* * *

 

**_Beep! Beep! Be-_ **

 

A fist came crashing down on the alarm clock, groaning with the movement. Razz had lost track of the schedule during the month of Slim being here, and had only tried picking it back up a week prior to almost fucking dying. He glowered at the clock, his frown taking up most of his face.

 

**5:10 AM**

 

Yeah, how about no.

 

“Five more years,” he mumbled, turning over and closing his eyes yet again.

 

* * *

 

Slim’s snoring filled the living room. Despite Razz’s offering to get him an actual bed and room, he’d decided he liked the couch a bit more, mainly because it was no mystery to him who came into the house or not. As soon as his brother went to his room, he took the chance to get some well-deserved sleep.

 

He would usually have nightmares, but this night’s dreams were different.

 

* * *

 

 _“Daaaaaaad!”_ Papyrus cried, running through the lab’s doors and startling the other workers. His hand was covering his bloodied mouth.

“Papyrus?” The scientist in question acknowledged, alarmed to see his pride in distress. “What’s wrong?”

The boy took his hand away from his mouth, showing the tooth that had been ripped out.

 

Only a day later, Dad had to wear handcuffs around in public for maiming a 15 year old and their entire family.

 

“Don’t you worry about it, Papy,” he said when asked about it. “That child got what they deserved. Now, how about we take a stroll through Snowdin? It’s been nearly two months since I bought you a new parlor, and there’s a building there that’s _perfect.”_

“Dad, I’m 13.”

“So?”

 

* * *

 

“But it was supposed to be _mine!”_ Papyrus complained, his golden tooth shining in the lab’s light as his father explained the situation.

“And it _was_ yours,” he confirmed. “This woman paid an awful lot to get it, though.”

“How much did she even pay?”

“845,000 G.”

The 14-year-old pouted. He hadn’t been told of this trade, and he didn’t even see a penny from selling his _own_ parlor to some weird spider lady!

“Now now, none of that,” the doctor said. He dug a check out of one of his pockets. “You get to keep all of it, of course!”

Papyrus stopped pouting as soon as he held the slip of paper in his hands.

 

* * *

 

Slim woke up to sunlight shining through the curtains. The ghost of a smile still decorated his face, only to be replaced with his now-usual confused expression.

 

“Dad?” He asked aloud, his voice hardly louder than a whisper.

 

When no answer came, he sighed, shook his head, and got up. He knew there was no chance in trying to get more restful sleep.

As he made his way to the kitchen and wondered if he could finally cook something without blowing up the microwave, the doorbell rang. Before opening the door, he grabbed a can of ravioli out of the fridge and a plastic fork to go with it.

 

* * *

 

Blue was _exhausted._

He had finally used up all the coffee in the house, and if he went shopping for some more on his own he’d probably fall asleep on the way there.

 

So when Slim opened the door while eating a can of frozen ravioli with a purple plastic fork, he thought he was hallucinating.

 

“‘Sup?” The taller greeted, talking with his mouth full. It took the smaller skeleton a few seconds to respond.

“Uh,” he hesitated, “is Razz here?”

Slim raised a brow.

“I th-thought he was w-with you?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Huh,” he paused, “Y’know what? H-He’s probably still asleep. He was pretty t-tired last night.”

He moved out of the way for Blue to come inside, and went upstairs. Blue, not wanting to sit on the couch and risk passing out, followed.

“Bro,” Slim called, knocking on his brother’s bedroom door. “Y’got a visitor.”

No response.

“C’mon, man, it’s y-your boyfriend.”

Blue was too tired to process the implication. Giving up on privacy, Slim unlocked the door with a hairpin and opened it to see something never seen before.

 

Razz was on the floor, his sheets wrapped around him, hugging a stuffed alien doll close to his chest and drooling. There were bits of a smashed alarm clock next to him.

 

Slim only had to see for a second before he burst out laughing, struggling to get his phone out of his pocket to get a picture.

 

Blue, in his sleep-deprived state, couldn’t help but laugh along.

A part of him was flattered, though.

 

When he bought the stuffed alien from the space museum two years ago, he never thought Razz would’ve _kept_ it.

 

* * *

 

“Red?” Comic called out, knocking on the door for what must’ve been the fifth time that day. “Dude, I know you’re home. I can hear the TV from out here.”

Still no response. Sick of this shit and also kinda worried, he dug the spare key out from under the non-welcoming doormat, and let himself in.

“Red, seriously, is everything oka-”

He stopped himself mid-sentence as he saw the skeleton in question passed out on the couch, loosely holding a half-empty bottle of whiskey.

He sighed, pulling out his phone.

 

**_DIALING…_ **

**_DIALING…_ **

 

_“HELLO SANS! IS THERE SOMETHING YOU NEED?”_

“I’ve actually got some news. Not the best.”

“OH BOY, WE _CERTAINLY_ HAVEN’T HAD ENOUGH STRESS, HAVE WE? WHAT IS IT?”

“A certain someone relapsed again.”

A sigh was heard through the receiver.

 

* * *

 

“What’s wrong?” Fell asked as Rus ended the call with a disappointed expression. His face quickly shifted to one of a nervous liar.

“I, um…” He began, “I’m not sure you want to know..”

“Just spit it out,” the other sighed. “I’m already practically going through hell, might as well add some fuel to the fire.”

“Okay, but remember,” Rus said, “if you try to move around too much, you’ll hurt yourself!”

As Fell stared expectantly, the other took a breath.

 

* * *

 

While Comic was getting a glass of water for the now-awake Red, his phone rang. He handed the other Sans the water, and picked up the call. The notification said it was from his brother’s phone.

“He-”

_“LET ME TALK TO THAT SORRY SACK OF SHIT RIGHT NOW OR I WILL GET THE FUCK OVER THERE AND-”_

_“CINNAMON PLEASE GIVE ME BACK MY PHONE OH MY GO-”_

_“I WILL GET OUT OF THIS BED RIGHT NOW-”_

_“YOU’RE ALREADY HURTING YOURSELF STOP IT-”_

_“LET. ME. TALK. TO. HIM.”_

 

Comic, now holding the phone at arm's length, stared at Red with wide eyes.

“Uh,” Red hesitated. “How mad d’you think he’d be if we just hung up and ran?”

 

_“SANS I HEARD THAT-”_

_“SIT DOWN-”_

_“WHEN I GET OVER THERE I AM GOING TO RIP OUT YOUR RIBCAGE AND SMASH YOUR SKULL IN WITH I-”_

**_“CINNAMON YOU CAN’T WALK-”_ **

**_“I WILL USE SHEER DETERMINATION AND FURY TO GET MY BONEY ASS OVER THERE AND KICK YOU RIGHT IN THE-”_ **

The call ended.

 

“Yikes,” Red said before taking a sip of his water.

 

* * *

 

“You need to calm down-”

 _“NO!_ I AM GOING TO GO OVER THERE, I DON’T GIVE A SHIT ABOUT MY LEG!” 

_“Sit down,_ Cinnamon.”

_“MAKE ME!”_

 

**_Ding!_ **

 

The shorter Papyrus thrashed wildly as he was forced back down by blue magic. His leg felt like it was going to fall off, and his shoulder wasn’t much better, but he’d be damned if he gave up now.

 

He wasn’t even mad at his brother anymore. He was mad at _everything._

 

 _“LET ME GO!!”_ He shouted, throwing punches at the air around him.

“Cinnamon, listen to me,” Rus said, attempting to approach. “You’re angry, I get it, but you can’t-”

“SHUT THE HELL UP!”

 

_Smack._

 

Fell opened his eyes, not even realizing he’d closed them only a second before. Rus was holding his jaw, staring at him with _that look,_ he _knew_ that look, _why was he staring at him like-_

 

Oh.

 

As his knuckles began to ache, he realized exactly what he’d just done.

 

“No,” he gasped. “No no nonononono Rus I’m so sorry, I-I wasn’t- I didn’t-”

“Stop, Cinnamon, just-” the other cut him off. “It’s okay. Really.”

“It’s _not,_ though! I-”

Rus put a hand on his arm, smiling. It was clear he was trying not to cry.

“Don’t worry about it.”

He gave Fell his phone.

“I’m gonna go for a walk. If you need anything, give Sans a call, okay?”

 

As he left, a mark was already forming on his jaw.

 

All Fell could do was watch in silence.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well hey, if skeletons can blush, they can probably bruise too, right?


	13. Everything Hurts and I'm Dying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Memories are recovered, and answers are searched for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I,, can't find it in me to write long chapters help

Rus walked down the sidewalk, the city atmosphere managing to calm his nerves. There was a light drizzle in the air, causing his bones to dampen. His white shirt didn’t do much to cover the electrocution burns on his back, but he had put it on in a hurry after bringing Fell home and hadn’t gotten a single chance to change since.

“Hey, Rus,” a familiar voice spoke up, walking to his side. “What’cha doin’ out here without a jacket? According to the people with skin, it’s pretty chilly.”   


Stretch handed him his MTT-Brand letterman jacket, a comforting smile on his face.

“Sans sent you, huh?” Rus asked, putting on the jacket. He felt he would draw too much attention if he rose his voice, so he didn’t. 

“What, I can’t just stop by on my own accord?” Stretch asked back, mocking offense.

“You don’t do  _ anything  _ on your own accord.”

“Fair enough,” the taller shrugged. “Comic really isn’t the one who called me, though. It was Fell.”

Rus’s pace slowed, looking at Stretch with slight skepticism.

“Yeah, it was hard for me to believe, too,” he said. “But he sounded really worried. He told me everything that happened between you two.”

 

They continued their previous pace, walking to nowhere in particular.

 

“How’ve you been holdin’ up?” Stretch asked.

“I’ve been fine,” Rus insisted.

“Clearly no-” The other began to object, but was interrupted by cameras flashing and people yelling out of nowhere. “Shit, Papy-razzi, hold on.”

Grabbing the shorter skeleton by the arm, they turned the corner together and were suddenly at the local aquarium instead. Both of them shivered, neither being a big fan of teleporting.

“Didn’t mean to take us here, but at least it’s quiet,” Stretch shrugged. “Those people just never leave ya alone, huh?”

“To be fair,” Rus reasoned, “it took them a whole  _ five minutes  _ to find me this time!”

“Creeps,” he grumbled. “Is there any way to get rid of ‘em? At all?”

“They come with the job, I’m afraid.”

“That actually reminds me,” he stated. “Are you still goin’ on that trip next week?

“Trip?” Rus looked confused.

“The trip to Japan? The one Alphys wants to sneak into your suitcase for?”

It took the other a few seconds to process the information. When he did, he groaned.

“Agh, I completely forgot about that!” He said, putting a hand to his skull. “I promised Undyne I’d send her lots of pictures, and get lots of souvenirs- but things have been so busy, I should be getting  _ ready-” _

“Woah, woah, hey, chill,” Stretch said, putting a hand on the shorter skeleton’s shoulder. “You’ve still got a week. But that’s my point, y’know? Things have been pretty crazy lately, shouldn’t you take a break?”

“Why would I do that?”

The look he received was an answer in and of itself.

 

* * *

 

Fell put his head in his hands, his body aching with the effort. Why did he move so damn much when he was angry?

 

In more ways than one, though, he probably deserved it. He was a piece of flaming  _ shit  _ who hurt Rus only a day after he nearly fucking  _ died,  _ and he couldn’t do anything about it. Except for throw a pity party, anyway. 

 

The look the other had given him was burned into his mind. He didn’t want to remember where he first saw it, but despite his efforts, the memory rushed back up with the force of-

 

* * *

 

Undyne clutched her eye, wheezing with pain. She stared up at Papyrus, her expression a mix of betrayal and disbelief.

 

A day later, once the battle was won and the skeleton was promoted to captain of the royal guard, he went to visit her.

 

“What the fuck do  _ you  _ want?” She asked the second she saw him staring at the door.

“I wanted to make sure you’re okay!” He explained. “I, um, didn’t really get a chance to see you after the fight.”

The fish monster lifted up the patch covering her eye, revealing an empty socket in its place.

“Does that look ‘okay’ to you?” She asked as the other recoiled. “What the hell did you think it would be like? Did you think I’d just live with a punctured eyeball? No!”

“U-Undyne, I-”

“Save it.”

 

She shoved him back, causing him to fall.

 

“Y’know what?” She asked. “You’re just like your brother.”

 

She held a spear in her hand, looming over Papyrus. 

 

“Neither of you actually  _ care  _ about  _ anyone,”  _ She said. “And if you don’t get the fuck off my property in the next thirty seconds, I’ll make sure you regret  _ ever  _ making me an enemy.”

 

And so, of course, he got up and ran.

 

Once he got to Snowdin, he slowed down only the slightest amount. Once he found himself face-to-face with his brother in their own shared home, he was at a complete stop.

“Ayy, there’sss the new c-aaaptain,” Sans greeted. He was drunk. “How’za bout you-” He burped. “-Come get a drrink w’me, it could b’fffunnn.”

Without waiting for a response, the shorter skeleton began hobbling back to his own bedroom, horribly singing “Celebration” by  _ Kool & The Gang  _ under his breath. 

 

Papyrus was  _ nothing  _ like  _ that.  _

 

And he would prove it.

 

He felt himself getting increasingly angry at the thought that he was  _ anything  _ like his brother, and before he knew it, he had already acted.

 

A thump was heard as Sans was thrown onto the floor.

 

A crack was heard when Papyrus’s fist slammed into his own brother’s skull.

 

* * *

 

“Hello?? Earth to Fell!”

 

Fell blinked and shook his head soon after Blue turned to Slim and said “Houston, we have a problem.”

 

“What are you doing here?” He asked, causing the other two to jump in surprise.

“St-Stretch told us to ch-check up on you,” Slim explained. 

“He said you and Rus had a fight?” Blue questioned. “We literally just saw them both at the aquarium, so they asked us to come here!”

“Why were you in the aquarium?” Fell asked, only slightly less confused than before.

“We l-left to get coffee,” Slim spoke. “Blue said h-he wanted me to see the f-fish, since Paps usually like that st-stuff.”

“And I was right!” The shortest skeleton affirmed, grinning widely. “But that’s not the point. We don’t know all the details, so we don’t know how to help!”

“I don’t need any help!” Fell objected.

“We’ve been h-here for five minutes and m-most of that was spent t-trying to get your attention,” Slim pointed out. “Somethin’s buggin’ ya.”

The bedridden monster sighed.

 

He always  _ hated  _ having to open up to people.

 

* * *

 

“What made you do it this time?” Comic asked, checking the couch cushions for any hidden bottles before sitting down.

“I dunno, man,” Red sighed, swirling the water in his glass. “Yesterday was just… Not fun, y’know?”   


“I know,” the other agreed. “Personal question, but when’s the last time you went to AA?”

“Why’s it matter?” He asked back, taking on a slightly defensive tone. “I’m not an alcoholic, I’m an  _ ‘alcohol abuser’,  _ or whatever the fuck they called it.”

“It matters because this is your third relapse in six months.”

“Well- okay, whatever. I stopped goin’ like, two years ago anyway.”   


_ “Red.” _

“It was boring, and I felt like I was better!”

Comic put his bony palm to his face, sighing deeply.

“You never even  _ stopped _ .” He pointed out. “How much do you really care about recovering?”

 

“I stopped caring about pretty much everything once Dad took the leap o’faith,” Red retorted without thinking.

 

Comic froze.

 

“Sore subject, sorry,” the other sighed. “Look, let’s just- Let’s just  _ stop  _ talking about it, okay? I have a headache, and this shit ain’t helpin’.”

 

* * *

 

“It’s weird, when you really think about it,” Rus said, staring through the glass of the tank. “I’m gonna be the best man at a wedding for a fish, and yet here I am at an aquarium!”

Stretch let out a small laugh.

“Yeah, I guess that  _ is  _ weird,” he said. “Hey, when’s the wedding again?”

“Only a few months, now!” The other answered. “Assuming there won’t be any more surprises, we should be back from Japan about a week beforehand.”

“That’s cool,” Stretch responded. Suddenly, he groaned.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m gonna have to wear a  _ suit.” _

Rus’s laugh was a tad bit too loud to be appropriate for the quiet setting.

“Well hey, think of it this way,” he began, “if you don’t look good, you’ll have three other people who won’t either!”

Now, it was Stretch’s turn to laugh.

 

They stayed there for a bit, watching the numerous fish swim by in the water, before Rus spoke up yet again.

 

“You know, this is starting to get a little  _ too  _ calming,” he said. “I heard the carnival’s back in town, and I haven’t gotten the chance to ride the new roller coasters a few thousand times yet.”

 

He began tugging the taller skeleton by the arm towards the exit.

 

“Let’s go!”

 

* * *

 

Razz blinked his eyes open, groaning quietly as he woke up. Once he realized he was lying on the floor, wrapped in his blanket and cuddling a stuffed doll half his own size, he stood. He noticed a note on his bedside table.

 

_ “Blue came by earlier today. Was looking for you, but you were sleeping like a baby. All he wanted was someone to get coffee with, so I’m about to go with him now. He told me he got you that alien, like, a year ago. You two are cute as shit. Please don’t fuck on the couch, I sleep there. _

 

_ -Paprika” _

 

Underneath the stickynote was a printed out photo of him on the floor, sleeping like, well, a baby. 

 

Something about the note reminded him of something, though. Someone. Who did he know that talked like that?

 

* * *

 

“It should only be about a week,” Gaster said as servants moved several bags into the house.

 

“All that luggage suggests otherwise,” Sans pointed out.

 

“He has… quite a lot of stuff,” the doctor sighed. “I’d leave him home, but I fear he’d burn the house down.”

“Don’t you have your  _ servants  _ do everythin’ for you?” The shorter asked. His years growing up in the city were obvious in his voice. 

“Yes,” the other answered, showing slight offense to his son’s attitude. “But they will be needed for some procedures. The tests I am doing-”

“Aren’t suitable for a 15-year-old scholar?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” the scientist said, his voice cold. “Besides, I hardly think  _ you  _ can say much about academic progress.”

“Excuse me?”   


“Just saying, Papyrus didn’t exactly drop out of high school.”

 

_ “Daaaaaaaad!” _

 

While Sans glared, his younger brother stepped between the two.   
“This place is tiny as hell, and I just heard one of the servants say I’d be stuck here for, like, a week!” Papyrus complained. “I don’t  _ wanna  _ be here for a week!”

His father’s attitude seemed to change completely, to Sans’s surprise.

“Maybe I can get the time shortened to four days,” he suggested.

“I’m gonna  _ die  _ in this house if you make me stay for that long!”

 

Wait, was he…?

 

Oh, dear god, Papyrus was pouting. Arms crossed, head tilted down, and glaring up at Gaster. He was  _ fifteen  _ and he was  _ pouting.  _

 

Sans was certain the teen wasn’t going to be the only one going through hell this week.

 

* * *

 

Razz shook his head. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that memories of Dad were coming back after all these years, but where had they gone in the first place? Why were they only coming back up now?

 

He decided he’d spend his day trying to find out. He’d spent long enough sleeping, anyway.

 

**LOUD @ 1:04 PM**

**Razz:** aight so to confirm I’m not a recovering amnesiac

**Razz:** is anyone else remembering shit about parents

**Blue:** Yeah actually

**Fell:** YES

**Razz:** dude get a new phone and turn off capslock jeez

**Fell:** NO

**Razz:** k whatever how bout Rus?

**_Rus is typing. . ._ **

 

**LOUD @ 1:15 PM**

**Blue:** Are you writing an autobiography or something??

**_Rus is typing. . ._ **

 

**LOUD @ 1:25 PM**

**Razz:** fuck it

**Razz:** he’s not answering so 

**Razz:** just come over and we can talk about this

**Fell:** IF I COME OVER I WILL PROBABLY BREAK

**Razz:** I’ll come over to u then

**Razz:** Is Rus there?

**Blue:** No, but we’re at his house!

**Razz:** ??????????

**Fell:** LONG STORY JUST COME OVER

**_Rus is typing. . ._ **

 

Razz put his phone down. He considered getting dressed, but his ribs were still sore and he couldn’t really be bothered. 

 

It was time to find some answers.

 

* * *

 

“This is how I die,” Red groaned. “Sitting in a puddle of my own vomit.”

“You’re just hunched over a toilet, man,” Comic responded, patting his friend lightly on the back. “There’s no puddle anywhere.”

Red’s response was interrupted by his own dry heaving, magic leaking slightly from the sides of his mouth. 

“You okay?”

 

“Everything hurts and I’m dying.”

 

“Gotcha.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really am trying to get some better chapters down, but I've been going through some things recently and it's been hard to come up with ideas and the motivation to do them
> 
> I swear things will get explained sometime soon but I haven't found the right time to put it in the story yet


	14. Happy Tears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Oh my god, none of us are functioning adults."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love popping up at random times like a really unorganized serial killer
> 
> sorry tho like,, i know I'm bad a responding to comments, and I wish i wasn't, but still every time I don't get any feedback on a chapter I get really discouraged to even try writing which is really why I keep taking these month-long breaks. I know I sound selfish, and I'm sorry, but if it weren't for all of your comments, I probably would have already given up on this thing on, like, the sixth chapter. The reason I don't respond much is because I feel really awkward just saying different variations of "thanks" to the same people constantly, in case anyone was curious. I actually don't write things very often, so I do this purely so that other people can read it. I know I should "write for myself" but like, I like attention so
> 
> Sorry for the sad bullshit, didn't mean to get carried away. Keep reading for giggles and just like,, forget this part exists lmao

“Ok, so,” Razz began as he burst through the door without warning, “what the actual _fuck_ is going on?”

 

He paused, hearing snickering come from the bed in the corner of the room. He noticed Slim showing his phone to Fell, who was desperately trying not to lose his shit.

“Oh, joy,” Razz remarked, using magic to scoop the phone right out of his brother’s hand. “You’re here, too. Would anyone like to tell me what happened while I was sleeping?”

“We _could,”_ Slim said, “bu-but you might wanna get cuh-comfortable.”

“It’s one heck of a story!” Blue stated.

“YOU SOUND LIKE A 12-YEAR-OLD,” Fell complained, “JUST SAY FUCK.”

“No!!”

Sighing, the shortest skeleton of the four sat on the edge of the bed.

 

“Spill,” he said.

 

* * *

 

Red chewed on his hamburger, relieved that it _still_ tasted amazing, even after four years.

 

“It’s not fair,” he complained, his mouth filled with food. “Your Grillby can actually _cook.”_

“He’s the best,” Comic agreed. “Hey, wanna watch Mean Girls?”

“Fuck yes.”

 

* * *

 

“So let me get this straight,” Razz began. “Red relapsed, you got pissed, Rus tried to calm you down, and you punched him? And then he just left?”

 

“PRETTY MUCH,” Fell confirmed.

“Oh my god, none of us are functioning adults,” the other sighed. “Have you even _tried_ talking to him?”

 _“Razz_ suggesting _talking_ as a solution to problems?” Blue gasped. “Who are you and what have you done with short Fell?”

“Hardy har har,” Razz mocked, rolling his eyes. “I’m just saying, that could’ve ended _way_ better.”

“WHO CARES, HE WON’T ANSWER ANY OF MY CALLS OR TEXTS, ANYWAY,” Fell sighed. “BESIDES, YOU DIDN’T COME HERE TO TALK ABOUT DRAMA BULLSHIT.”

“Right,” he agreed. He noticed Slim watching. “Uh, Papyrus, could you go check on Red, or something?”

“Why?” Slim asked. “Comic’s with ‘im. I w-wanna hear whatever it i-is you’re gonna talk about.”

“IT’S PASSIONATE STUFF,” Fell said.

“I can be p-passionate about things.”

“Oh my god, just-” Razz cut himself off. “We need to talk alone with each other for a while, okay? Maybe later I can give you details, but now isn’t the time to be a little shit.”

The brothers had a silent staring contest for a few seconds, before Slim sighed.

“Alright, fine,” he said, finally walking out the door and closing it behind himself.

“SO MUCH FOR MAKING HIM FEEL LIKE PART OF THE GROUP,” Fell said.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’ll get him some baby toys later.” Razz rolled his eyes. “Are we gonna talk about Dad or not?”

Fell flinched suddenly, startling the two other skeletons nearby.

“You okay?” Blue asked.

“YEAH, SORRY, I JUST-” He paused- “I just don’t enjoy remembering- or even _thinking-_ about this.”

“You can go last, then” Razz stated. “And because I only lived in the same house as mine until I was like, nine, Blue probably has the best memories of him??”

“So I guess I have to talk, huh?” Blue asked, though it wasn’t exactly in the form of a question. “What do you even wanna hear?”

 

“Everything,” the shorter prompted. “Tell us your _life story,_ or some bullshit like that.”

 

* * *

 

Red nearly cried as Comic poured an entire bottle of whiskey down the kitchen sink.

 

“I’m tellin’ ya, man, it’ll work out in the long run,” the other said, rolling his eyes. “The less alcohol that’s in the house, the harder it’ll be to relapse.”

The hungover monster was about to respond, when he was interrupted by knocking at the door.

As he went to answer, he prepared his usual response.

 

“I haven’t found Jesus and don’t plan on lookin’ anytime soon, thanks,” he said as he viewed the human outside.

“Same,” Frisk agreed without hesitance as they let themself in. They looked slightly worried, a jacket loosely thrown over their shoulders with their coily hair pulled into a messy bun.

“Please, come in,” Red murmured, closing the door behind them.

“Have either of you seen Papyrus?” They asked.

“He should be at our place,” Comic answered. “Is he not?”

“I went there first, and when I knocked, no one answered.”

‘Cause you’re _definitely_ not the type to enter someone’s house uninvited, of course, Red thought to himself.

“Weird,” the other skeleton commented. “We just talked to him a few minutes ago, he was tryna get Fell to calm down.”

“I called _him_ earlier, too,” the human stated. “He said Papyrus was with Stretch, but he wouldn’t answer, either.”

“Double weird,” Red and Comic said in unison.

“Whaddya need’im for, anyway?” Red asked, raising a brow.

“Our flight to Japan got rescheduled- for _tomorrow,”_ they explained, “and because I’m kinda panicking because I’m not even a little bit prepared, I feel like it’s kinda important _he_ knows too so he can panic with me.”

“Hold on-” Comic exclaimed, blinking a few times, _“tomorrow?_ As in, you’re leaving the country tomorrow?”

“That’s what I said, yeah,” they said in the same bewildered tone. “I can’t believe it, either. But it’s actually really important Papyrus knows. Can you see if he’ll answer _your_ call?”

“Sure, hold on,” the skeleton obliged, taking his phone out of his pocket and dialing the number.

“Just curious, did he get a new number or something?” Frisk asked Red, who had directed his attention to the movie that was still playing. It had hardly even started before Comic found his stash of booze and poured his money down the drain.

“Nah,” Red answered. “What makes ya think that?”

“The message I kept getting wasn’t his usual voicemail,” they responded. “It kept saying his number was ‘disconnected,’ or something.”

 

As both skeletons’ eyes widened, Comic’s phone dropped to the floor.

 

* * *

 

“This,” Rus stated, “is not the carnival.”

 

Stretch looked around, hardly recognising the street they had ended up on.

 

“Think we took a wrong turn?” He asked.

“I _swear_ we didn’t,” the other answered. “Unless it moved?? It was supposed to be closer to the aquarium.”

As they talked, the two began retracing their steps.

“I don’t remember walking down any of these streets,” Stretch pointed out, his confusion only growing once he spotted a few monsters staring and whispering as the pair conversed. One was looking directly at him as they spoke to someone on the phone.

 

“This kind of reminds me of when I went to Razz and Slim’s world,” Rus said. “I was walking through the forest, trying to clear my head, and when I turned to go back to my house everything just… changed.”

“You don’t think that’s what’s going on right now,” Stretch asked, “do you?”

“Not really, I was just-” Rus paused as a group of monsters turned from their own conversation to look at them. “-...Making the connection.”

 

Suddenly, the sound of someone running down the sidewalk, paired with people being shoved to the side, filled the air.

 

 _“PAPYRUUUUUUUUSSSS!!!”_ A loud voice screamed from behind.

 

Before either skeleton could turn, Stretch was tackled to the ground.

 

* * *

 

“That’s _it?”_ Razz and Fell asked in unison.

 

“I told you, it’s not very interesting,” Blue said, laughing awkwardly.

“So your dad was a laid-back dude who smoked sometimes and set himself on fire once,” Razz recalled, his voice monotone.

“Well- basically, I guess,” the other sighed. “He was a good dad, despite the bad habit.”

“I wish I could say the same,” Fell growled.

 

Suddenly, all three of their phones began buzzing at once.

 

**Ghost dicks @ 1:36 PM**

**Comic:** guys you need to call Papyrus & Stretch rigtht fuckign now

 **Fell:** HE’S NOT GONNA ANSWER ME

 **Red:** try anyway, for fucks sake

 **Blue:** Is something wrong??

 **Comic:** just do it

**_Rus is typing. . ._ **

**_Stretch is typing. . ._ **

 

As they called the two other skeletons, a collective groan spread through the group.

 

“I SWEAR TO _GOD,”_ Fell shouted, clearly irritated.

“If they’re both in your world I’m gonna shoot myself in the foot,” Blue said blankly, far too agitated to stay cheery.

“MAKE SURE TO GIVE ME THE GUN WHEN YOU’RE FINISHED.”

 

* * *

 

“Mind telling me what’s going on?” Frisk asked as they followed Comic and Red across the street.

 

“Long story,” Comic said as he made his way to his basement. “Red, tell everyone else to meet me at the machine.”

“Gotcha,” the other agreed, leading the human into the house and up to Papyrus’s room.

They only grew more confused at the sight of Fell wrapped in bandages, Blue mimicking a machine gun with a long bone, and Razz with the palm of his hand covering his face.

“What, for lack of better words, the absolute fuck?” They asked.

 

* * *

 

Comic nearly jumped out of his slippers as he opened the basement door to see a large, hunched figure looking over the machine’s blueprints.

 

“Slim?” He asked, getting the other’s attention. “How’d you get here so fast?”

“I w-was eavesdropping on th-the passionates,” the taller explained. “Came d-down here when I got the text.”

He handed the blueprints over. To Comic’s disappointment, there wasn’t anything new written on them.

The short silence that filled the room was interrupted by several skeletons, as well as Frisk, tried to get through the door at once.

“I am so confu-” the human began, but cut themself off at the sight of Slim. “..Did a new Papyrus pop up?”

 

A sigh spread throughout four of the five present skeletons.

 

* * *

 

“Did you do fucking _mitosis_ or something?” Alphys asked, carrying the skeleton over her shoulders with almost no effort as his twin followed cautiously behind.

 

“Maybe,” Stretch responded, long having given up on trying to escape from her hold. “If I could walk, I might tell ya how.”

“Nice try, but no,” she denied. “I haven’t seen you _or_ Sans in three years and I’m not gonna risk anything! Speaking of which, where is he?”

“Another universe,” he answered, causing the reptilian monster grumble as she rolled her eyes.

“Papyrus, I am _dead serious,”_ she said. “I’ve- we’ve _all_ been worrying about you two since you first disappeared. Now is _not_ the time to be sarcastic.”

“I’m not being sarcastic, seriously. And hey-” he lazily plopped a hand onto her face- “I was worried about you, too. An’ so was Sans. When this is all sorted out, he’s gonna be real happy to see ya.”

“How the hell do you expect me to believe that you’ve both been in a different _world_ the _entire_ time we’ve been looking for you?”

“Look at who’s following us.”

 

Rus, who had chosen not to say a word to the surprisingly intimidating five-foot-tall reptile, shrunk into himself slightly as she turned her head to look directly at him. He gave a tiny wave, remembering that they obviously weren’t in Swapfell, and this Alphys was supposed to be nice. He wasn’t a criminal here, so she probably wouldn’t hurt him, right? Still, the constant knowledge of what she _could_ do to him was enough to make his back sting.

No, wait, the stinging was real, and it was coming from the fabric of his shirt rubbing uncomfortably against the burns. Ow. That wasn’t a nice feeling in the slightest.

The second she turned away, he grit his teeth and clenched his hands in his pockets.

 

“I guess that’s a good point,” Alphys continued. “But you _do_ realize how ridiculous this all sounds, right?”

“How could I not?” Stretch responded. “Hell, I can barely believe myself sometimes. But after enough _pinching-”_

“Ow!”

“-You come to realize you’re not in any kinda dream or nightmare.”

 

They walked in silence for a few minutes, getting ever closer to their old (or new?) neighborhood.

 

“Hey, by the way,” Stretch spoke up, “how’s Chara been doin’?”

 

* * *

 

“You’re joking, right?” Comic asked the person he was speaking to on the phone. _“Please_ tell me you’re joking, Al.”

 

Frisk watched as he looked increasingly worried, wondering what Alphys could’ve said. Thankfully, by now, they had finally been caught up to current events, but that didn’t make them any less muddled. In the short span of only a month, a new Papyrus, “Slim,” he called himself, had managed to fix the broken machine and teleport himself to this universe. Then Papyrus ended up in _his_ world out of nowhere, resulting in him almost getting himself decapitated again, if it hadn’t been for the skelegang interrupting the event and beating up the evil version of Frisk’s mom.

 

Not confusing  _at all,_ yeah?

 

Anywho, the mascot had apparently been teleported to a different world yet again, only this time with his taller, lazier counterpart.

 

Trying to gather it all together in their head only gave them a headache. It was like the colored tile puzzles they had to do when they were twelve and trying not to get killed by a loud, tall skeleton and robot that wanted nothing more than to take their soul.

 

They were snapped back to the present as Sans hung up his phone call with a huff.

 

“Alphys says she just found a whole _list_ of different coordinates,” he groaned. “At least, like, twenty.”

Before the rest of the group could groan with him, Blue piped up.

“Wait, let’s not despair yet!” He said. “Maybe there’s hope! We can split into groups and get through them all quicker!”

“We only have, like, four people who are well enough to go around, though,” Razz pointed out. “And it wouldn’t really be smart to go alone.”

“Wait, wait,” Red began. “Who exactly are those ‘four people?’ There’re five people here right now, and I’m not gettin’ booted out.”

“Comic, you, Blue, and me, of course!” Razz elaborated. “Who did you think?”

“Hey!” Slim spoke up, sounding slightly offended. “I’ve traveled m-more than all of y-you!”

 

“You have a big-ass crack in your head, Papyrus,” his brother pointed out.

“You have a big-ass crack in your _ribs,_ Sans,” he retorted.

 

“I have an idea,” Comic asserted. “How about _neither_ of you come since _neither_ of you are quite good for this?”

“I’m fine, _he’s_ not!” They both said in unison.

“Listen.” Comic rolled his eyes. “Razz, you still have to recover from getting an axe shoved into your ribs. Slim, if we come across a fellverse world, you’d be fucked. So neither of you get to go, and instead you’ll have the pleasure of making sure Fell doesn’t injure ‘mself _more,_ kay?”

Before they could argue even more, the door swung open and the two were carried out of the room with blue magic.

 

“And then there were three,” Blue muttered, trying to act as though he hadn’t just gotten annoyed at the two brothers to the point of forcibly removing them from the basement. “So much for groups. It’ll take longer, now.”

“I could come,” Frisk suddenly offered, startling the three sanses, who had nearly forgotten they were still there. “I’m already the ambassador for monsters, so why shouldn’t I be the ambassador for Undertale, too?

“Hm,” Red hummed, actually considering it. “Hey, that might actually work out pretty well. An’ if we get Undyne an’ Alphys, too, we could split up.”

“Alright,” Comic agreed. “I’ll give Al another call, then. Also, Frisk? Can you tell your parents to come over, too? We might need ‘em if someone gets hurt.”

“Got it,” they nodded, already taking out their phone.

 

Blue stared at his own phone, looking at a picture of him and his brother.

 

He’d be lying if he said he weren’t worried out of his mind.

 

* * *

 

Rus could tell that Stretch was just on the verge of tears as he hugged his _real_ family. He knew who most of them were, although he had to guess on a few. He focused on trying to get his shirt to stop rubbing him the wrong way instead of just standing there watching from a distance.

 

He paused as he heard sniffing coming from within the large mass of monsters. Stretch, along with several of those around him, was crying. Real, salty, messy tears.

 

Happy tears.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHy did it take me so long to shove Frisk in here I love them because they are ME and i can give them any damn personality i want so i don't have to worry about staying in character agh why did i wait sO LONG
> 
> also they're eighteen in this but that doesn't mean there's gonna be any shippy shnazzle involving them bc nah
> 
> also also i was awfully close to writing "kinky hair" instead of coily hair and I know it doesn't mean the hair is gonna call someone daddy but I can't read the word "kinky" without thinking anything else so fuck that
> 
> see ya in either one week or two months depending on my recent upload schedule lma O


	15. Skeleton Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skeletons look for skeletons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRI SE BITCHES IT'S ANOTHER UPDATE
> 
> I WAS N O T EXPECTING TO FINISH THIS SO EARLY ON BUT AYYYY I HAVE REDISCOVERED HOW FUCKING FUN IT IS TO WRITE
> 
> HAPPY NEW YEAR!! ! ! !!!

“This isn’t good.”

**“Oh, really? I thought it was all sunshine and rainbows! Where’d my pet unicorn go?”**

_ “I’ve finally finished puking up sprinkles- wait hold on-” _

**_“Do NOT pretend to barf on me again I swear to god-”_ **

“People are staring, stop it.”

**“Tell them to get their own damn bus.”**

“We aren’t even on a bus???”

**“Tell them to get their own damn boat.”**

“Wrong again.”

**“Tell them to go die.”**

 

* * *

 

“Good news, Fell!” Razz began as he opened the door to Rus’s room. “My brother and I are your new fucking babysitters!”

 

He paused as he surveyed the room, brow furrowed. Slim entered close behind, before freezing as well.

 

Fell was gone.

 

* * *

 

**_DIALING. . ._ **

**_DIALING. . ._ **

**_The number you have dialed has been disconnected or is no longer in service._ **

 

Ow, ow. FUck, ow, shit.

 

Turns out it’s rather difficult to move around when one of your legs is in a splint and broken.

 

But Fell was going to suck it up, goddammit.

 

As soon as he had been left alone, he had teleported himself away. He couldn’t bare the possibility of Rus or Stretch getting hurt because of his bullshit decisions, but he couldn’t operate that dumb machine either, so he settled for searching the city for the off chance the two were still in the same world. 

It was hard enough being half-naked and injured while trying to function, but it was even harder when people would try to help every five yards.

“Seriously, man,” the monster currently at his side yelled, as if he wasn’t heard the first four times, “just stay still for like-- five minutes? Is that good enough? I  _ have  _ to call someone, man, you can’t just-”

“HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THIS, ASSHOLE?” Fell snapped, nearly dropping the bones he had been using as crutches. “I. AM. FINE. I DON’T NEED YOUR HELP, OKAY?”

“But-”

“IF YOU DON’T GET YOUR ASS AWAY FROM ME IN THE NEXT TEN SECONDS,  _ YOU’LL  _ BE THE ONE NEEDING AN AMBULANCE.”

“Everything alright over here?” A different voice asked. It sounded strangely...  _ authoritarian. _

A police officer, he realized with a heavy sigh.

And considering how low he was on strength  _ and  _ energy, he wouldn’t be able to use a shortcut any time soon.

 

This was going to be a  _ long  _ day.

 

* * *

 

Rus let out a small squeak as the scientist poked at his ribs.

 

“Hey, ‘Dyne, could you like, not?” Stretch asked, noticing his twin’s obvious discomfort.

“Sorry!” She exclaimed, backing up a few feet. “I’ve just-- I’ve just never seen this before!! I had to make sure he’s actually  _ real!”  _

“What makes you doubt it?” The other asked, giving Rus a subtle look of pity. “He looks pretty real to me.”

“Uh, I don’t know,’ the doctor began, her voice mocking in tone, “maybe the fact that this is the first  _ actual  _ example of multiverse theory, like, ever?? How are you  _ not  _ freaking out?”

“I’ve kinda been stuck with him for three years.”

“Oh, right.”

 

An uncomfortable silence filled the room.

 

Undyne poked Rus in the ribs again, this time with a tiny spear.

 

* * *

 

“I-I printed out a few more c-copies, if it’s h-helpful,” Alphys stated, handing Comic a pile of papers after her arrival. “I couldn’t, um, c-couldn’t read the symbols at the top, s-so I didn’t mention th-them.”

 

Comic nodded, giving a copy of the list to everyone in the room. 

“It says Underswap,” Red pointed out only a few seconds after receiving the paper. “Is that where they are?”

“However the hell these things work,” Comic began, “they usually show up at convenient times. I’d say we can probably see that as a hint, but...”

“...What coordinates belong to Underswap?” Frisk finished, their voice quiet. 

After a brief pause in conversation while the group looked over the list, they were shown how to properly operate the machine. 

“Let’s name the worlds as we get to them,” Red suggested. “That way, we can filter ‘em out.”

They all murmured in agreement, no objection taking form.

“How are we gonna divide ‘em all?” Undyne asked.

“We’ll take the top half,” Comic answered. “You guys can have the bottom.”

“H-how will we kn-know we’re in Underswap wh-when we get to it?” Alphys questioned.

 

All eyes turned to Blue, who had been a little too caught up in the fact that he was about to go  _ home.  _

 

“Oh! Uh-” He stammered, not having expected the sudden attention. “Basically, everyone is swapped with their opposite! Undyne has Alphys’s personality, Asgore has Toriel’s, and so on. Just imagine this world, but, um, backwards??”

“That should be recognizable,” Frisk thought aloud. 

“Okay, then,” Comic sighed.

 

He opened the machine’s door.

 

“Let’s go find our skeletons.”

 

* * *

 

**_DIALING. . ._ **

**_DIALING. . ._ **

**_“THIS IS FELL. I’M NOT AT MY PHONE RIGHT NOW, SO FUCK OFF AFTER THE BEEP.”_ **

**_Beep!_ **

 

“FELL ANSWER YOUR PHONE I SWEAR TO GOD,” Razz shouted, attracting the attention of others around him as Slim acted like he didn’t know who the other was. 

 

“S-sans,  _ please  _ try to c-calm down,” he pleaded. “Literally e-everyone within t-twenty feet of us is staring and it’s  _ not j-just because I-I’m a fucking crackhead.” _

“Crackh- oh my god, that’s bad,” the other complained. “Anyway, where do you think that brat is, if he’s not here?”

They had been browsing the local art gallery for a good five minutes at this point, looking for any sign of the skeleton gone rogue. As much as Fell refused to admit it, Razz knew he came here quite often when things got too stressful. 

“You know him b-better than I do, bro,” Slim shrugged. “I-I’ve only been here for a month.”

 

He thought for a moment.

 

“Fuck it, let’s just break into his house and look through his stuff. It might give us some pointers.”

 

So that’s what they did.

 

Fell’s room was… shockingly plain.

 

The walls were painted a simple maroon color, completely lacking of any personalization at all. No posters, stickers, or patterns. Just paint.

The bookshelf looked like it hadn’t been touched in years, yet every book’s spine was cracked as if they had all been read several times. 

“It f-feels weird, going through all his p-personal shit,” Slim said, looking under the neatly-made bed. “Jeez, it’s like nobody’s a-actually been  _ living  _ h-here.”

“If he didn’t wanna get exposed for some weird shit, he shouldn’t have bailed,” Razz said blankly. “Besides, we  _ do  _ need to find him. Like, it’s literally essential to his own health.”

With that note, the shorter skeleton opened the top drawer of the nightstand. 

Fell must’ve gotten nosebleeds or something. All that was in the drawer were several bloody tissues and… a small...

 

...knife…

 

...Oh.

 

Razz closed the drawer.

 

He was snapped out of his thoughts by a wolf whistle as Slim looked into the closet.

 

“Jackpot,” he said.

 

* * *

 

“FOR THE LAST TIME,” Fell snarled, “IT’S NONE OF YOUR GODDAMN BUSINESS. LET ME GO HOME.”

 

He was currently riding in the back of a cop’s car.

He was going to the hospital.

He didn’t have a job. He couldn’t afford a trip to the hospital, and like  _ hell _ he’d ask Rus to foot the bill.

 

No, he had to escape.

 

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, bud,” the cop said. His southern accent made the skeleton want to punch him in the teeth. The city wasn’t even in the south! “You need professional help, whether ya think so or not, and I need t’know how you got hurt in the first place.”

“WHY DOES IT EVEN MATTER?”

“B’cause we’ve been havin’ lots of gang fights ‘round the less popular parts of the city,” the man explained. “And I’ll be honest, those injuries are pretty darn suspicious.”

Fell had zoned out at this point, focusing on gathering the energy for another shortcut. He  _ had  _ to get out of this damned car. He’d  _ never  _ find Rus or Stretch if he spent the day in a  _ hospital.  _

 

But what if he never found the two anyway?

 

No, stop that, he told himself. It wouldn’t help his situation in the slightest to doubt himself.

But he was still sitting in the back of a cop’s car, while everyone else was being useful.

 

Jesus Christ, no wonder Razz always called him emo.

 

* * *

 

Chara was different from the history books back home.

 

They were more grown, and, uh, not  _ dead. _

 

“So what’s it like in your world?” The human asked, their eyes shining with curiosity. “Are there monsters with, like, five heads? Have Asgore and Toriel gotten back together?  _ Are Undyne and Alphys still engaged???” _

“Um,” Rus hesitated, caught off-guard by the bombardment of questions, “No, no, yes?? My world’s pretty much the same as here, except-”

_ “Except???” _

“-Er, people are different.”

“How??”

 

Rus glanced over their shoulder at Stretch, a pleading look in his eyes. All the other did was fail to hold in his laughter.

 

* * *

 

“World number one,” Comic said as the three sanses stepped out of the machine.

 

Without hesitation, Blue exited the room, only to be heard giving a short yell from outside.

Once the other two caught up with him, they were met with much less gravity than before.

Blue, looked down at them from where he was floating aimlessly, his grin taking up most of his face.

 

“WE’RE IN  _ SPACE!!” _

 

* * *

 

“One down, nine to go,” Undyne stated as her team exited.

 

They cautiously stepped out of the basement, their feet crunching in the snow. Other than them, the town was eerily silent, with little to no sign of life as far as they could see.

Frisk went ahead, despite Undyne’s protests, to look for people. Could they have gone to a genocide timeline?

Their thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice.

 

“HUMAN!” Papyrus shouted. “YOU’VE RETURNED!!”

 

They turned in the direction they thought his voice had come from, but didn’t see him anywhere. 

Until they looked into the forest.

 

That tall, dark figure with bloody, mangled teeth smiling down at them was, in fact,  _ not _ a tree.

 

* * *

 

At the bottom of Fell’s closet were boxes. Lots and lots of boxes.

 

Some of them weren’t completely shut, with whatever that was inside poking slightly through the gap.

 

Slim noticed something on one of the smaller cubes.

“Hey,” he began, “this one h-has your nickname on it.”

Razz looked over before pushing his brother to the side. He opened it, not bothering to take it out of the closet.

Inside was a cookbook, several stress toys, a sweatshirt with a Mean Girls quote on it, and a black mug that said “#1 ASSHOLE” on the outside.

“W-What’s all that?” The younger skeleton asked, thoroughly confused.

“...These are the things I’ve gotten him for Gyftmas the last two years,” he said slowly, seemingly trying to wrap his head around it. “I thought he got rid of all of it.”

There was a sealed envelope amongst the gifts, which the older not-so-subtly tucked into his pocket.

He looked back up at the other boxes. Some of them had names, but there were plenty of blanks as well.

“Wait, there’s something behind the clothes,” Slim pointed out, stepping further in while at the same time making Razz realize that Fell’s closet was much too big to be a normal closet.

 

Suddenly, there was a surge of magic behind them, and before he knew it, he was shoving his brother and himself forward before closing the door behind them, leaving them smushed together and hiding in darkness.

 

* * *

 

Fell collapsed onto his bed (finally, his  _ own  _ bed!) with a loud groan, only to shoot upright again as pain went through both his leg and shoulder like a bullet. He grit his teeth, breathing heavily. Catching sight of his nightstand, he adjusted himself so that he was sitting on the side of the bed, good leg bent, the other straight, and opened the top drawer.

 

He took the knife out.

 

He stared at it for a few seconds.

 

He threw it at his closet door with a simple flick of his wrist.

 

Despite how much he wanted to, he wouldn’t give in. He could get some ice, instead.

He reluctantly rose from the awkward hokey-pokey sitting position and left his room, not quite looking forward to having to use the stairs.

 

Five minutes later, he was at the very last step.

 

He wished it hadn’t taken him so long just to get down a few stupid stairs, but he ended up needing to take a break every two steps like some kind of old waste that wouldn’t last two seconds back home.

He was finally at the bottom, though.

 

But why was the room spinning all of a sudden?

 

And why was the ground so close to his face?

 

* * *

 

“You doin’ ok?” Stretch asked from where he was laying on his bed, sorting through all the letters he had apparently received over the years. “I haven’t seen you  _ this  _ awkward in like… Ever, actually.”

 

“Well, you know what it’s like to be randomly dropped into a world where everyone is different from how you know them,” Rus sighed, taking the flashlight out from the lamp and trying to turn it on, to no avail, since it didn’t have batteries. The power to the house was completely out, due to lack of paying the bills, and the two were left to rely on their own magic to see. “I’m not really sure how to react, honestly.”

“How’s your jaw?” The other inquired, not looking up to see the shorter skeleton pause.

“It’s… sore, but I’ll be alright as long as I don’t get punched again,” he joked, rubbing the purple mark lightly. Suddenly, he winced, and his smile dropped as he fidgeted with his shirt.

“Okay, you’ve been doin’  _ that  _ all day,” Stretch pointed out after finally aiming his attention away from the letters. “What’s goin’ on there?”

“It’s nothing,” Rus answered, though he didn’t pause his attempt to adjust the fabric until it almost tore.

“Like hell,” the other said, frowning. “C’mon, I won’t judge if it’s somethin’ kinky.”

“Oh my god,  _ NO!”  _ He responded, his face turning bright red in only a few seconds. “It’s not that, oh my god.”

“Well then tell meee,” Stretch whined, laughing softly.

“Alright, fine!” The other gave in, laughing along with him before taking a breath. “Back in Swapfell, um… Well, did you know that Alphys’ magic can actually hurt a lot? Like, render-you-immobile kind of pain?”   


“You got tazed?”

“Kinda, um, yeah.”

“Kinda?”

“Well-” He paused, not quite sure how to describe it- “I’ve  _ been  _ tased before, when Razz thought he had a good idea for April Fools day, but this was?? Worse??? I don’t know, maybe it was because it was magic instead of an actual taser. But basically, my shirt’s been rubbing against the spot it hit all day and it doesn’t feel very nice.”

Stretch hesitated for a few seconds, taking the time to decide what he should do about it.

“Have you actually seen it?” He asked. Rus looked at him quizzically.

“No…?”

“Take off your shirt.”

The blush returned.

“Don’t worry, I just wanna get a look at it,” the taller reassured, waving his hand dismissively. “I’ll tell you if it’s bad or not, kay?”

 

“...Okay.”

 

* * *

 

After nearly an hour of trying to reach the ground again, a group of strangely giggly Sanses reached their second world.

 

“Let’s call it Underspace!” Blue suggested as they exited the machine.

“I was thinkin’ ‘Outertale,’” Comic said back.

Red just barely bothered to take in his surroundings as they left the basement, smiling with content for the first time in a while.

It wasn’t until they were completely in front of the house when he remembered to pay attention.

 

Standing in front of them was a human.

 

A human staring directly at  _ him. _

 

* * *

 

A group of three ran as fast as they possibly could back to the house, shrieking the entire way.

 

“NOPE NOPE NOPE FUCKING  _ NO,”  _ Undyne screeched, nearly breaking the machine as she punched in the next set of coordinates. Scary Papyrus almost followed them inside before they were gone, leaving them breathless.

“Let’s take-” Alphys paused to catch her breath- “a b-b-break.”

Frisk gave a shaky thumbs up as they leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor.

 

They unanimously agreed to never split up ever,  _ ever  _ again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, thank you all for taking the time to read the notes from the last chapter! Your support means so much to me, it's especially part of the reason I was able to get this one out so fast! So thank you!!!
> 
> I know there's a lot going on, but the lines seem to help the transitions pretty well. Basically, the POV order is gonna be like this for a little bit:  
> Razz and/or Slim  
> Fell  
> Rus and/or Stretch  
> Red, Comic and/or Blue  
> Frisk, Undyne and/or Alphys  
> and it just cycles from there
> 
> I hope it wasn't too confusing!


	16. 5-4-3-2-1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alternative title: Who needs knives when you have shark teeth?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TH IS FEELS SO RUSHED AND I DIDN'T EVEN PROOFREAD IT SO LIKE IF IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE I AM S ORRY
> 
> IT'S ONE IN THE MORNING AND I HAVE SCHOOL TOMORROW
> 
> I HAVE TO GET OUT OF BED IN LESS THAN FIVE HOURS
> 
> THIS WAS A BAD DECISION
> 
> WRITING IS PAIN

After hearing a “thump” noise downstairs, Razz decided that it was safe to leave.

 

“Never thought I’d a-actually have t’come outta th-the closet,” Slim joked, grinning. His brother rolled his eyes, examining the knife that was now lodged in the door. If it had been open, the blade likely would have struck him right between the eyes.

 

“What’d you see behind the clothes?” He asked, cracking his neck. Being shoved against his brother and a wall, while simultaneously trying not to step on anything, was not the most comfortable position to be in.

“Well, you see, I-I didn’t really get a good look b-because I was shoved into a wall the whole t-time,” his brother pointed out.

Grumbling in response, Razz leaned back into the too-big closet and pulled aside the clothes.

 

A door.

 

Behind the clothes, within a closet, was another door.

 

“What the fuck,” he said blankly.

“Does it e-even have a knob?” Slim asked, equally confused.

Shaking his head, the other noticed a small keypad where the lock _would_ be.

“How good are you at guessing passwords?” He asked his brother, who shrugged.

“I g-guessed Undyne’s, but I d-don’t know if-”

“Good enough for me! _You_ can deal with this.”

As the younger sighed, Razz went back to snooping around the more accessible parts of the room. He plucked a book from it’s shelf and skimmed the pages, pausing as he found a slip of paper between two chapters. He took it out, wrinkling it slightly as he jumped, the sound of Slim getting the password wrong interrupting the silence of the room. After glaring in his brother’s direction, he realized he was holding a cut-out newspaper ad for Subway, which seemed to be advertizing several job openings.

 

He didn’t think of Fell as the kind of person to want a job in fast-food (People constantly telling you what to do? No thanks!), but apparently there was a lot Razz didn’t know about the skeleton.

 

“Ha!” Slim suddenly shouted, pumping his fist in the air as the door finally opened.

“That was fast,” the shorter stated as he put the book back where it was.

“I’m just g-great like that,” he responded before going through the door.

 

Razz followed after him, only to stop a few feet into the room.

 

“Holy shit.”

 

* * *

 

Fell was on the floor.

 

He couldn’t get up.

 

He didn’t want to, anyway.

 

He looked around the mess that was his living room, sighing. He obviously hadn’t had a chance to clean up from his most recent fight with his brother, and clearly, Sans had been too _busy_ to do it himself. The younger brother could still faintly smell the alcohol hidden under the couch.

 

He heard the Swapfell brothers going through his stuff upstairs, but he didn’t care.

He knew he wasn’t going to get anything done, just laying there and silently cheering on Regina George on the TV, but he didn’t care.

He knew all of his secrets were about to be exposed to _everyone_ , but he didn’t care.

 

He wondered if Sans would notice a bottle missing from under the couch.

 

* * *

 

Stretch couldn’t have hoped to stop himself from taking in a sharp breath at the sight of Rus’s burns.

 

They weren’t exactly _bad,_ more like…

 

...no, no they were bad.

 

Branching from a single spot on his upper spine were jagged, threadlike cracks that spread almost completely over his shoulder blades and stopping nearly an inch after the joints. There were even some on his ribs and lower back, leaving shallow grooves in their tracks. As Rus used his magic for light, it shone through the lines as well, making his back look like a glowing blue etch-a-sketch.

Those were the effects of really, _really_ aggressive magic electricity, alright.

Magic electricity was different from normal electricity. Sure, they powered things in relatively the same way, but when used against a living being, the effect changed drastically. _Normal_ electricity would hardly even effect a skeleton, but magic electricity would be absorbed into the bone, leaving marks depending on the intensity.

 

Rus’s back looked like a failed murder attempt.

 

“Let me guess,” the injured skeleton sighed. “It’s bad, huh?”

“Well, uh-” Stretch paused. _Why_ did he say he wouldn’t lie? “Maybe- maybe just a tiny bit?”

“Your voice just went up, like, ten octaves,” Rus pointed out.

Before the other could justify himself, Alphys burst through the door. She was using her own magic, bright and shocking as it was, causing the injured to shrink back slightly.

“You guys fuckin’ in here or something?” She asked, noting the shorter’s half-naked appearance.

 _“No,”_ the two said in unison, casually distancing themselves as Rus began to put his shirt back on.

“Well, you’ve got some visitors,” the reptilian monsters said, shrugging. “I can tell them you’re too busy being narcissistic if you wan-”

“Stop,” Stretch sighed. He got up, abandoning his unread letters on his bed. He began to follow Alphys to the front door, Rus following close behind. “Who is it?”

“Oh, no one very important,” she said dismissively.

 

She opened the door to reveal a large crowd of monsters, all staring directly at the taller skeleton.

 

“Just all of Snowdin, and Waterfall, and Hotland, and…”

 

* * *

 

Red didn’t have a second to react before he was picked up in a tight hug, his face shoved into the human’s chest.

 

 _“OHMYGODITHOUGHTYOUWEREDEAD,”_ they shouted, finally putting him down for only a moment before grabbing him by the hood and tugging him into the house.

 

Comic and Blue shared a slightly concerned look as they followed.

 

The human who had captured the shortest skeleton looked like Frisk, but different. Their hair was far more poofy, some of it dyed burgundy. Their clothes were baggy and torn, and they wore fingerless gloves on their hands. There was a small heart-shaped locket around their neck, similar to the one Undertale’s Frisk wore, only slightly less shiny.

Other-Frisk sat Red down on the couch and stared at him for a few seconds, their gaze shifting to the two unfamiliar sanses by the door.

“You’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do,” they muttered, directing their attention back to the stunned monster. “Everybody else in, like, the _world_ thinks you’re dead, and suddenly you show up again _three times at once?_ Nuh-uh, I’m not buying it.”

“I, uh-” Red began, not even sure how to respond. “I didn’t… I didn’t think I’d ever see…”

It wasn’t until the human embraced the skeleton in front of them in yet another tight hug when the two foreigners realized what happened.

 

They had landed in Underfell.

 

* * *

 

“Attacks ready?” Undyne asked, gripping a long spear in her hand.

 

Alphys voiced her affirmative, electricity sparking slightly in her palms. Frisk held their pocket knife with a (very shaky) steady hand, ready to activate their inner aggressive pacifist as they nodded.

All at once, they exited the basement, ready to attack anyone trying to use their eyes as meatballs.

 

Instead, they looked down the barrel of a small pistol.

 

* * *

 

The sheer amount of _color_ in the room was enough to make the brothers think they had teleported to an entirely different world.

 

The room was small, obviously not built for two people to be in at once, but still had enough room for a bucket of painting supplies sitting next to a red beanbag that had a laptop on it. The paint was put to good use, seeing as the walls were almost completely covered with different scenes, each one contrasting the last. On one wall, there was a tiny “Starry Night” recreation, but right next to it, an even tinier Snowdin Town. There were only a few blank spaces, all of them on the bare, white floor. Hell, even the _ceiling_ was covered.

If he had lungs, Razz would have gotten lightheaded from all the fumes. The smell still wasn’t very pleasant, though.

Slim took his phone out of his pocket, about to take a picture, before his brother stopped him.

“Dude, really?” He asked, surprised he had to remind the younger skeleton what common sense was. “He hid this place like it was a dump site for dead people. Do you _really_ think that’s a good idea?”

“But-”

“Would you like it if I snooped around your room back home?”

Slim didn’t respond, instead choosing to focus his attention on one of the unfinished paintings on the ground. It looked like the most recent, as if Fell had started it the morning Rus first… disappeared. It was Undyne, though without her eyepatch, and she looked angrier than usual, if that were even possible. It was only in the beginning stages, so it wasn’t clear whether it was _this_ world’s Undyne, or Underfell’s. Razz assumed the latter, despite the similarities to the classic fishface.

“We should p-probably get o-out of here,” Slim suggested, squeezing past his brother to leave. “D-didn’t I h-hear Fell… fall… Oh my god.”

The shorter skeleton snorted as realization settled in, before following the other out of the closet. They were about to leave through the bedroom’s door, before Razz stopped.

“If he realizes we were looking through his stuff,” he explained, “we’re probably good as dead.”

“H-How else are we s-supposed to get down th-there?”

 

The taller skeleton followed his brother’s gaze to the window.

 

“You’ve g-gotta be kidding.”

 

* * *

 

Fell made it to the couch!

 

It had only taken him an _eternity_ of crawling on his elbows, but he was there!

 

And he couldn’t find any goddamn alcohol!

 

He had torn apart the cushions, looking between them, under them, even _inside_ of them and he couldn’t find a damn _drop._ He _knew_ his brother “hid” his drinks there, so where were they?

He was about to give up as he leaned against the armrest, sighing, when he heard a _clink_ noise come from within.

 

_Duh._

 

He didn’t have anything sharp on him but his own teeth, but he wasn’t gonna do _that,_ right?

He was spitting out stuffing only a minute later, immediately regretting his decision.

 

Well, at least he made a hole. Several holes, actually. He tore them open, revealing a tiny freezer that held at least two bottles of wine. Obviously, they hadn’t been there for very long, because you don’t store red wine in a fucking couch instead of a cellar.

One of the bottles had been opened recently, meaning there was probably a zipper hidden somewhere on the armrest that Fell had somehow missed. Oh well, he already tasted nothing but couch, now.

Eyeing the cork, he was actually considering using his teeth as knives yet again, before he caught sight of a pair of scissors lying on the ground not too far away. He hardly heard his bedroom’s window opening, and put his Wikihow-article-reading to good use before he lost his chance. He didn’t drink much, so it wouldn’t take long.

 

By the time Razz and Slim opened the door, he was drinking the wine like it was water.

 

* * *

 

Rus found himself backing into the house as Stretch exited.

 

The crowd was _so big,_ it felt like everyone was focused on him, but they weren’t, they were focused on Stretch, but _why_ did he feel so uncomfortable? He was _used_ to being in front of large crowds! He was the _mascot_ for _all_ of monsterkind!

The flashing cameras, presumably from Napstaton’s news crew, were _not_ helping. It was like little strikes of lightning within the crowd, the thunder that followed being ten voices at once.

Alphys was the one who grabbed his arm as he stumbled over his own feet, Stretch much too occupied with the crowd. _That_ didn’t help much, either.

What was happening? Why did he feel so _scared_ all of a sudden? He couldn’t think straight, and even though Alphys was obviously experienced in trying to calm people, she only seemed to be making it worse. She kept her hands off of him, told him to listen to her voice, to _breathe,_ but he couldn’t.

He felt like his magic was cut off, everything was _hot,_ his back stung, he couldn’t _move,_ couldn’t do _anything_ except be pushed along by the royal guard that wasn’t even _there._

He should have expected this, really. Stretch was popular, all lazies were. So why had he been so startled? Why was he reacting like _this?_

 

Okay, what did he tell Fell or Red to do when this happened? Breathe, right? Well, that wasn’t working very well. He wasn’t breathing at all, in fact. His chest felt tight, even with his lack of lungs.

Finally getting himself to take a very, _very_ deep breath, he looked around. He had to ground himself, somehow. He remembered teaching the sharper brothers a technique, it had to do with counting. He thought for a second.

 

5-4-3-2-1.

Five things he could see.

Alphys, first of all, looking at him with a face filled with concern. The couch, covered in dust from lack of use or cleaning. The TV, also dusty. The sock on the ground, covered in sticky notes. The carpet, it’s pattern similar to the one at home.

 

4-3-2-1.

Four things he could touch.

The carpet, since he was apparently sitting down, now. It was soft. His own shirt, still rubbing uncomfortably against his back. Alphys’ rough, callused hand as she helped him get to the couch. The couch’s torn fabric, with occasional stuffing leaking out of it.

 

3-2-1.

Three things he could hear.

Alphys’ gentle voice, sounding so _different_ than it had previously. There was even a slight stutter, like back home. The chatter of the crowd, now muffled by the door that had apparently been closed. His own bones shaking, making the smallest rattling noise.

 

2-1.

Two things he could smell.

Alphys was sweaty, she had to rush here in order to outrun the crowd. She was nervous, too. He smelled salty water, probably from tears that he hadn’t even realized he’d spilled.

 

1.

One thing he could taste.

He obviously wasn’t going to lick anything, so he focused on the taste of oatmeal still lingering in his mouth from breakfast. It was faint, but it was there.

 

He repeated the process until he was thinking clearly again. He gave the reptilian monster by his side a weak smile.

 

“Thanks,” he said, his voice quiet as a mouse.

 

* * *

 

“You got teleported to a different universe, and now you’re looking for Papyrus?” Other Frisk recollected, seemingly skeptical. “Who _also_ got teleported to a different universe? With another?? Papyrus??”

 

“Pretty much, yeah,” Red confirmed, the other two skeletons nodding along.

“Well, um,” the human hesitated, as if they weren’t sure if they should continue. “I-If they’re here, they’re doing a pretty good job of hiding. Even the slightest hint of Pap would be enough to cause a mass panic.”

“Why’s that?” Comic asked, slightly concerned.

They looked at Red almost sympathetically.

“Let’s just say,” they began, “You weren’t the only one presumed dead. In fact, people are more convinced of _his_ death than _yours.”_

“Comforting,” the short skeleton responded. “What, did he get in a fight or somethin’?”

“With Undyne, yeah, but it wasn’t even physical,” they answered. They took a deep breath. “I’m sorry you had to find out this way, and like, four years late, but people know Papyrus is dead because he ju-”

The human was interrupted by pounding at the door, causing everyone to jump about three feet in the air. Without waiting for a response, Undyne let herself in.

“WHAT’S THIS _SHIT_ I’M HEARING ABOUT THREE-” She shouted, only to stop short at the sight of the identical skeletons. “Holy shit, what the _fuck.”_

 

“Uh,” Red hesitated, having the unfortunate luck of being caught directly in her piercing gaze, “Heya.”

 

* * *

 

Frisk had never seen Sans wearing a suit before. They thought he’d rather be caught dead than try to look professional.

And yet here he was, wearing a black vest over a blue dress-shirt with actual pants and _real shoes._ He even had a _fedora._

They nearly forgot he was aiming a gun at them, his finger resting on the trigger.

 

“What the hell are you all doin’?” He asked, finally lowering his gun as he realized he _probably_ wasn’t being robbed.

“Uh-” Alphys hesitated, sweating profusely- “t-taxes?”

 

A _slap_ was heard as Undyne put the palm of her hand over her own face.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The amount of research I put into this fic for the smallest things are actually gonna get me in trouble someday, i stg
> 
> I have searched how to smoke weed, how to store wine, if it's possible to store wine in a fucking couch (never found the answer to that one believe it or not), how hard it is to walk on a broken bone, how to open a bottle of wine, how hard it is to burn bone, how hard it is to CUT bone, what it's like to be kidnapped, how long it takes for chloroform to take affect, various different types of drugs & their effects, how long it takes to get drunk on various different alcohols, electrical burns, and M OR E
> 
> PEOPLE ARE GONNA THINK I'M A 13 YEAR OLD ALCOHOLIC DRUG ADDICT WHO LIKES TO KIDNAP AND TORTURE PEOPLE
> 
> anyway i wasn't quite sure how to accurately describe the Frisks' appearances so
> 
> [UT Frisk](http://fuckyeahcurlscurlscurls.tumblr.com/post/157082677910/ecstasymodels-love-this-lippie-01-always)   
>  [UF Frisk](https://www.instagram.com/cree.she/)
> 
> but like,, you can imagine them differently if ya want


	17. Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hard monsters go soft.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aeryztxgcyh i couldn't help that summary ok it was too good to pass
> 
> ANYWAY sorry for taking two months to get this out!! I haven't even been busy i just suck!!!
> 
> I'm gonna try to get this back on track, but whenever I'm writing things I tend to lose motivation very quickly, but!!! I'm gonna do my best!!!! Maybe!!!!! Hopefully!!!!!!!!

“Oh, yeah, I’m _fine,”_ Slim growled as he followed his brother through the front door, rubbing his skull. “That c-could’ve made my crack a lot _worse,_ b-but _whatever,_ I guess.”

 

He froze only a second after entering the house, however, at the sight of the shorter skeleton wrestling a large, near-empty bottle filled with red liquid out of a shouting Fell’s hands.

 

“Are you fucking _kidding_ me?” Razz yelled, finally getting the larger skeleton to let go. “We’ve been looking for you for at least an _hour,_ and you’ve just been here, drinking your ass off?”

“NO, I-” Fell began, attempting to defend himself.

“You _what?”_ The shorter interrupted, having none of it. “You’ve been doing _important_ things like ripping up couches and acting like you’re gonna be completely fine after moving who _knows_ how much on a broken leg?”

Slim, who frankly did _not_ want to be a witness to any murder, began subtly backing out through the door.

Not subtly enough, though.

“Papyrus, don’t even think about it,” Razz snarled, sounding rightfully pissed. “You’re gonna stay here and help me get this fucker onto the couch.”

 

* * *

 

Fell was… unhappy, to say the least.

 

While the two brothers picked him up like a dead body and set him onto the uncomfortable sofa, he didn’t say a word. Every time he tried, the louder version of his own brother would tell him that he didn’t care for any excuses.

Thankfully, he could feel the effects of the wine slowly run through his bones. He wasn’t drunk yet, not even tipsy, but he’d get there soon enough.

For now, he just had to stare at the ceiling, ignore the scolding still coming from Razz, and wait.

It was kind of hard to do that when a small, gloved hand snapped it’s fingers only an inch in front of his face.

 _“HEY!”_ Razz barked, finally getting his attention. “Pay attention to me when I’m talking to you, goddammit!”

Fell didn’t respond, choosing to blankly stare at the other instead.

“I don’t know _why_ you did this, or why you’ve been… Why you’ve been doing what you’ve been doing with that knife in your room,” he sighed, clearly trying to contain his full emotions. His voice cracked slightly as he finished the sentence. “But you need to understand that it’s not _okay._ You can’t just hurt yourself to feel better! That’s not how things _work!”_

“Why do you care?” Fell asked, finally asking what he’d been wondering for the past two years.

“You f- wait, what?” Razz paused, obviously taken off guard.

“Why do you care?” The other repeated. “You’re a Fellverse monster, you should be numb to this. It shouldn’t matter to you whether someone hates their life or not.”

“I-” He began, but sighed, unable to think of a rational answer. His voice became uncharacteristically gentle. “I don’t know, honestly. This world made me soft, or something. But what I do know is that I’m not the only one who does, okay?”

Fell faced back towards the ceiling, closing his eyes as the alcohol began to take over.

 

Just like himself, Razz usually told the truth, no matter how hurtful it may be.

 

So why had he chosen now to lie?

 

* * *

 

“You alright?” Alphys asked, taking a seat next to Rus on the couch.

 

“Yeah,” the skeleton answered, face flushing slightly. “I, um, don’t really know why… _that…_ happened.”

“Do you need anything?” She inquired, to which the other shook his head. “Alright, I- _Woah.”_

She had focused her eyes behind Rus, though when he turned, he saw nothing but the dark wall. 

“What is it?” He asked, looking around the room as he was unable to spot anything unusual.

“Your back,” Alphys said, her eye widened. “It’s _glowing.”_  

He flinched at the feeling of a claw gently tracing the marks, which retreated almost immediately at the reaction. 

“Sorry, I-” She began, but her voice seemed to die out as she tried to explain. “The markings look kinda… familiar, I guess. How’d you get ‘em?” 

“I’d… rather not talk about it, if that’s okay,” The skeleton responded. He decided to change the focus as he leant back against the couch, doing his best to _not_ be a living glowstick. “People really missed Stretch, huh?” 

“Stretch?” 

“That’s what we call him-...back home. It gets confusing without nicknames.” 

“Ohh, I get it,” she nodded. “Anyway, yeah, both him and Sans have been _thoroughly_ searched for in the past few years. Sans was the ambassador, so it was kind of a big deal when he disappeared only a week after Papyrus.” 

She sighed, suddenly sounding more stressed. 

“I… I really thought something happened to them, y’know? I-I spent so much time looking for them, I almost forgot to buy a ring for Undyne. Toriel asked _me_ to be the ambassador in Sans’s place, but-...b-but I couldn’t even _think_ about taking that position. I was too caught up t-trying to figure out what son of a bitch took them a-and-” 

She stopped herself short, taking a sharp breath in. Her breath evened out as Rus put a gentle hand on her shoulder. 

Finally, she shook her head before patting the other hard on the back. 

“What I’m saying is,” Alphys began, sounding much more cheerful than only seconds before, “this has been the biggest relief of my entire life!”

 

Listening to her ramble, Rus couldn’t help but wonder how things were in… _meaner_ worlds.

 

It _certainly_ hadn’t seemed like anyone missed Slim back in Swapfell, and while that crowd of monsters’ opinions on Razz seemed to be _very_ mixed, it was clear they wouldn’t be longing for him any time soon.

 

What about Underfell, though?

 

* * *

 

Nearly fifteen minutes had passed since Undyne arrived, and Blue and Comic had only seen her for a third of that time before she went into another room with Red and Underfell Frisk to talk about something. The pair had already tried to eavesdrop, but the three were talking in hushed tones.

 

“I wonder what they’re talkin’ about in there,” Comic pondered. 

“It sounded pretty important,” Blue pointed out, playing a knock-off of flappy bird on his phone. “I just hope they’d hurry it up, though. I know it sounds selfish, but-” 

“-But you wanna make sure your bro’s okay,” the other interrupted. “It’s fine, I feel the same way.” 

As if on cue, the trio finally exited the room they had been speaking in- Comic only just recognising it as what was most likely Fell’s old room- each person looking slightly worried. Undyne had a deep frown on her face, almost as if she looked guilty of something, while Frisk simply looked sad.

Neither of them could compare to Red’s expression, though.

He looked like he had just been given the worst news of his life, with his eyelights completely out and his smile gone. His posture was stiff as he moved down the stairs. He didn’t say a word, or even _look_ at the other sanses as he walked passed them and out the door. 

“Where-” 

“We’re gonna go to your universe-...thing,” Frisk interrupted awkwardly. “It would be best if you just kept looking for your own brothers.” 

“Wait, but-”

“We’re dead serious,” Undyne spoke up, not giving Comic the chance to object. “Follow us, and I’ll rip your face off.” 

With that, they left the house, leaving the two sanses still sitting on the sofa, eye sockets widened in confusion.

 

“I… guess we can keep looking now?” Blue asked hesitantly, deciding to focus on the task at hand.

 

* * *

 

After nearly four universes that were clearly _not_ the one they were looking for, Frisk, Undyne and Alphys were starting to get annoyed.

 

“Okay,” Frisk began, trying not to let their tiredness seep too much into their voice, “we’ve been chased by a _horrendously_ messed up Papyrus, nearly shot by Sans, almost skewered by a lazy Undyne, and-” they shuddered, “- _flirted with_ by a _temmie.”_  

“If we don’t get to Underswap soon,” Undyne grumbled, opening the door of the basement, “I’m gonna break something.” 

As if on cue, the monster walked directly into a human that had been opening the door at the same time. 

“Shit!” The two exclaimed in unison as they backed up, rubbing their heads. The human bent down to pick up the pair of glasses they had dropped, and as they got up, Undyne finally got a good look at their appearance. 

They had messy, dark red hair that went down to their chin, as well as the start of a small beard on their jaw. Their ears were pierced in several places, small chains reaching from the tiny skulls on the fronts of their earlobes to the backs. Their eyes almost resembled blood, though they were merely a simple brown, surrounded by round glasses. Their pale face was covered in freckles, with a slight red tint on their cheeks. They were nearly as tall as Undyne herself, their long face staring up at her as they fidgeted with the locket around their neck. It looked like they recognized her. 

But she didn’t have a _clue_ who they were. 

“Who the hell are you?” She asked, finally breaking the silence that had filled the room. 

The human opened their mouth to speak, but before they could answer, Frisk interrupted. 

“Chara,” they said, their voice quiet. “You’re--...You’re Chara, right?” 

They nodded slowly, eyes widening as they stared at the other human. 

“Frisk,” Chara addressed, as if they weren’t sure who they were talking to.

 

The group had finally arrived in Underswap.

 

* * *

 

Razz had never thought he’d hear hysterical giggling coming from Fell’s mouth, and yet here he was, trying and failing to keep the distance between himself and the intoxicated skeleton.

 

“YOU-yoU KNOW, Y’KNOW, RAZZ,” he slurred, looping his good arm around the other’s shoulder, “I KNOW I’M A ASSHOLE A LOT, BUT ONETH-ONE O’THE THINGS I APPRECIATE MOST IN LIFE IS HOW YOU’RE ALSO A DICKWAD. IT’S COMFORTING, HONESTLY. IT’S WHA’ MAKES OUR STUPID RIVALRY SO FUCKING AMAZING. I LOVE IT.” 

He didn’t once stop laughing throughout his sentences, only proceeding to snort loudly as Razz finally freed himself and promptly tripped over the bottle that had been left on the floor. 

“I-Is there anything we c-can even do?” Slim asked, not sure whether to be amused or concerned from where he was standing across the room. 

“Not a chance,” Razz denied, shaking his head as he brushed himself off. “He’s _way_ too far gone. The next time he’s even able to hold a conversation, he’s gonna be wishing he was dead from the hangover.” 

“He d-doesn’t drink much, huh?” 

“Honestly, I think this is the first time I’ve _ever_ seen him drunk.” 

His brother was about to say something else before getting interrupted by the shorter skeleton’s phone ringing. He picked it up, brow furrowing slightly as he saw it was coming from Red.

 

“Hey, did you find-” 

 **_“Where’s Papyrus?”_ **  

“Red, what-?”

 **_“Where’s my brother, Razz? He’s not here.”_ **  

“We… had to take him to your house, but wait a se-”

 

Before Razz could finish his sentence, three other people were in the room.

 

* * *

 

“HIIIIII, SAAAANS,” Fell greeted, trying to wave but ultimately slapping the couch instead. “AND ALSO OTHER PEOPLE, HEEELLO TO YOU, TOO!!”

 

He could vaguely hear them asking what the actual _fuck_ happened, but all he could do was smile. And then frown. Red was probably mad at him for taking the wine, _fuck._  

“I’M REALLY REALLY SORRY FOR- FOR, UM, DOING THE THING WHERE, UHH-” _What was the word for “taking your stuff without permission” again?_ “-KIDNAPPING YOUR GRAPEY DIRT JUICE. AND DRINKING IT. I’LL BE HONEST THOUGH, I KINDA SEE WHY YOU DO THE ALCOHOL THING NOW! I CAN’T FEEL ANYTHING BUT EVERY EMOTION TIMES A THOUSAND!!!!”

He was staring at him like he had just spoke WingDings, whatever that was. In summary, his brother was appalled.

 

“My god, Papyrus,” the Sans began, sounding dismayed and unbelieving, “what did I _do_ to you?”

 

* * *

 

 _“ALPHYSSS!!”_ Chara’s voice screamed, startling the reptilian monster and the skeleton sitting next to her. They kept up a continuous yell as they ran through the back door.

 

“Oh my god, _what?”_ Alphys asked, trying to regain her breath. “You nearly gave me a heart atta-”

 

She froze mid-sentence as someone who looked exactly like her emerged after the human.

 

The short silence that took place as the two stared at each other was quickly interrupted as a figure moved by in a fast blur, shrieking as it tackled Rus to the ground.

 

“NO MORE _FUCKING_ TIMELINE SHENANIGANS,” the fish said, no longer a blur and now an almost exact copy of Alphys’s fiancee. “IF I HAVE TO COME GET YOU AGAIN I’M GONNA SUPLEX YOU SO HARD YOU GET _AMNESIA.”_  

“I MISSED YOU TOO, UNDYNE!” Rus laughed, hugging her lightly. “BUT, UM, PLEASE DON’T??” 

“Fine, for now you just get a noogie! C’MERE!” 

 _“PLEASE DON’T NOOGIE THE SKELETON!!”_  

Directing her attention away from whatever the hell _that_ was, Alphys looked back at her double, who had apparently approached her shyly in the chaos. The twin stuck out her hand, her expression that of someone trying desperately to contain the howling of excitement within the confines of her own mind. As soon as Alphys took the hand, though, she could hear a squeal escape the other’s mouth. 

“Oh my- o-oh my god!!” She squeaked as she began fidgeting with her hands. “This is s-s-so _cool!!!_ I-I--..I c-can’t even-- _oh my god!!”_  

Her opposite could definitely relate.

 

Especially when Chara introduced Frisk, one of the royal family’s dead children.

 

* * *

 

Frisk could hardly believe they weren’t dreaming. All those years, staring at the picture inside their locket, wishing they could’ve met the human from back then and helped them, were coming back at them at full speed. Considering the nature of this universe, they wouldn’t have been surprised if the same were happening to Chara themself as well, but the fact that they were _here_ was overwhelming. They looked almost like Harry Potter if he had his mother’s hair and his father’s eyes.

 

The two decided to compare their lockets, holding the two objects side-by-side as they looked at the differences. 

The main contrast was that the people in the photos were different in complete entirety. 

Chara found it outstanding that they were able to meet Frisk, _the_ Frisk, while Frisk was nearly shrieking at the fact that they were talking to someone their parents never forgot about. The two of them were equally amazed at the thought that they could talk to their (supposedly dead) best friend at any point, now. 

“What’s MK like?” Chara asked, their voice filled with interest. 

“Oh my god, they’re _awesome,”_ Frisk answered, “they’re, like, seven feet tall! It’s not fair!” 

“Dude, the same goes for Asriel,” the other nodded. “Plus, the horns add an extra _foot!_ He’s almost as tall as Mom and Dad!” 

“They need to tone it _down,”_ the pair agreed in unison.

 

* * *

 

As soon as Fell had realized that Undyne and Frisk were in the same room as him, he started bawling.

 

“I MISSED YOuUU,” he cried, not even trying to wipe his tears as he clung to his old best friend. “I-I-I KNOW WE DIDN’T END OUR LAST CONVERSATION ON-- ON VERY GOOD TERMS, BUT-” 

Suddenly, he gasped, cutting himself off. 

 _“MY PAINTING!!”_ He yelled, making an attempt to rush off of the couch, only to be pushed back down again.

Undyne could only watch, her feeling of guilt growing worse. 

He was right, the last conversation between the two didn’t end on “very good terms,” but she never thought he would throw himself off of a _cliff_ because of it!!

When she saw the live video on one of Alphys’s cameras during a visit, she thought she had lost her other eye and begun hallucinating. By the time she got to the dump, he had already disappeared. 

And now, she could see him again for the first time in four years. 

Drunk off his ass, crippled, and a sobbing, laughing _mess._

 

At least Red was taking it well.

 

* * *

 

Red could swear he was on the very edge of having a panic attack.

 

Everything, from the truth about his brother’s appearance in Undertale to the thought that he _knew_ all of this was his fault, was all _far_ too much to handle. 

He couldn’t even _remember_ the last time he’d told, or even _implied_ to his brother that he _cared_ about him.  

He had a fuzzy memory of telling Fell that he had to toughen up to save his life, but that was about as close as it got. 

God, Red was a piece of _shit._ Why did it take him so long to actually _realize_ it? 

Now, staring at his little brother’s drunk figure, he had a longing he hadn’t had in years.

  
He wanted to _change._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote the entire last half of this in two days because I was procrastinating doing my homework lmao
> 
> if it doesn't make much sense it's probably because I can't be bothered to proofread things
> 
> also,, i was originally gonna add more detail to the Universe Shenanigans™ but i got bored of it really fast so i just,, didn't oops
> 
> also also i think i screwed up the order of POVs but i'm trying here ok i made it really confusing for some fucking reason

**Author's Note:**

> oh yeah btw this was inspired by "how to get a spicy boyfriend" by ollie_oxen_free bc I was really pissed about the ending so I wrote this out of spite


End file.
